As it turns out, I wasn't able to sign on to the computer until after 3:30 pm so my time with the markets was limited. TNA is the chart which comes up when I log into QuoteTracker so I usually just focus on that. The markets had a nice trend day so I was looking to capitalize on a drop at the EOD. In the last 5 minutes of the trading session, I felt a small breakdown was in the making so I took a paper-trade short with about 4 minutes remaining. Price dropped away from my entry spot nicely but wasn't moving fast enough for my liking, with only three minutes or so before the close. Bid/Ask was really "squirrely" and I didn't get the best fill price when I covered, yielding only $40 paper-bucks. With two and a half minutes left, I watched the chart to see if my "gut" feeling was correct about a break in price. I was happy to see that my reading of the price action was a good one when price dropped continuously into the close.
A one-minute chart shows that buying increased as price dropped during the 3:58 and 3:59 timeframes, indicated by candles with open/close price in the top half of each candle and long lower wicks. The last minute of the day was different though... sellers ate up the buyers and price dropped with more conviction into the closing bell.
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Recently, I have been trying to think of price movement in terms of what buyers and sellers are doing and thinking rather than as just spots on a chart or candle. I don't know if I am correct in my analysis as I'm doing it but I believe it is going to be helpful in the long run. Don Miller does this, thinking about "who is stuck" at certain price levels in the day. If a stock chart is just a picture of human behavior expressed as prices in a stock, then I think this approach will pay dividends down the road.
