Al Brooks trading strategies have changed the game for futures traders. He left his medical practice to become a trader. Usually we don’t hear of doctors leaving their jobs to trade full time. However, thanks to him, we have a great price action strategy to follow.
The name may not have the same street cred as Warren Buffett or Stanley Druckenmiller, but Al Brooks has a very faithful following in the investing community. Believe it or not, Brooks wasn’t even an investor by trade or education. In fact, he quit his career as an ophthalmologist, to pursue being a full-time investor.
Brooks has been interested in the financial markets since he was quite young. When his wife gave birth to twin girls, he realized how much he could help out with raising his children if he could work from home. He quit his job as an ophthalmologist and proceeded to begin a career in day trading. This resulted in him losing all of his money over the course of ten years. Not exactly a great start.
Things turned around for Brooks. Otherwise why would we be featuring Al Brooks trading in an article? He’s said he learned many valuable lessons over those first ten years. For example, not listening to what other traders say, finding your own systems, learning the laws of probability, and figuring out exactly how to read levels of support and resistance.
If you haven’t realized it by now, Al Brooks is a technical analyst. In fact, he’s widely considered one of the best to ever do it. Brooks famously has his Brooks Trading Course, as well as giving online webinars, providing YouTube educational videos, and of course trading himself every day the markets are open.
Check out Al Brooks trading course here!
What Do Al Brooks Trading Methods Offer to Investors?
Al Brooks trading runs several different paid courses that investors can use to learn how to read the markets through charts and price action. His flagship Brooks Trading Course offers two different options for learners:
As you can see, the courses contain nearly 100 hours of videos each. Brooks has said this is comparable to investing courses that are provided at Harvard Business School. And it’s the equivalent to an MBA in trading. So how much does the Brooks Trading Course cost? Surprisingly, Brooks only charges $399. Which is actually a value compared to some of the other trading courses on the market.
There’s also a live trading room that’s open every trading day by a group of traders who’ve been confirmed as being trained under Al Brooks himself. The trading room provides live market insights, as well as giving users the ability to follow along with the traders as they make trades in real time. The cost of this room is $99. And while Brooks isn’t officially a part of it, the room is advertised on his website.
The best part about Brooks is that a lot of what he does is based around his passion for teaching other people how to be successful traders. The courses are great and you can find endless positive reviews about them online. But a lot of his tips and techniques can be found for free on his YouTube channel. Brooks also posts many of his thoughts and ideas on his personal blog which is linked to his website.
Buy Al Brooks trading course here!
What Is Price Action Trading?
Price action trading takes into account technical analysis and the performance of a stock or equity within a given timeframe, usually within the same trading session. This is often why it’s thought of as a form of day trading. However, investors can use these price movements to form swing trades or even long positions if they so choose.
The belief is that most stocks have similar tendencies in how they behave around key resistance and support points; like simple and exponential moving average prices. If you look at a stock’s chart, it may just look like a bunch of peaks and valleys. But the key to technical analysis and price action is understanding what each of those movements means.
More often than not, these scenarios can lead to some familiar chart patterns that traders can use as either a bearish or bullish sign. And Al Brooks trading methods capitalize on these patterns and trend lines.
What Signals Do Al Brooks Trading Methods Look For?
In a recent blog post, Brooks went over some of his favorite Al Brooks trading patterns he uses everyday in his trades. Some of this can get pretty technical. Once you’ve mastered charting and spotting these trends, it’ll go a long way in helping you to be a successful trader.
Major Trend Reversals: These are fairly self explanatory. Most people with some technical analysis sense can spot these on a chart.
- A Bullish trend reversal is a series of higher highs and higher lows.
- A Bearish trend reversal is a series of lower highs and lower lows.
Here’s what it may look like on the chart:
There are a lot of other different kinds of trend reversals to spot. We just wanted to give you an idea of what it may look like on a chart for one of the most common types of reversals.
Final Flags: Sometimes in technical analysis you have to use your imagination to understand what you’re looking at. And I find this especially true with flags. The main characteristic of a flag is a small area of horizontal trading. This is usually around one of the magnet levels, which is a support for bulls and resistance for bears. The final flag is a type of trend reversal. It can indicate an opposite move from what was happening before the flag.
Breakouts: While breakouts sound bullish, they can also be bearish if they breakout below a certain support level. Depending on the timeframe of the chart you’re looking at, you may have to zoom out a bit more to see if a breakout is truly occurring. Brooks has mentioned that breakouts are his favorite type of chart pattern. They have a high probability of being accurate. Hence why they’re apart of Al Brooks trading methods.
Check out Al Brooks trading course here!
Trading Patterns and Moves
Wedges: These are another very popular type of chart patterns. Ascending or descending wedges can signal an imminent breakout in either direction. Wedges usually have at least three legs up or down before traders can recognize that one’s forming. But when one gets better at seeing wedges, they can often be another high probability trade trigger.
Measured Moves: These can be any sort of pattern that occurs twice on a given chart. You’ve probably heard of double tops or double bottoms; or a leg 1 = leg 2 measure move. They don’t always happen. However, they happen frequently enough that the setup is easily recognizable on a chart. These often remind me of the Mark Twain quote: “History does not repeat itself, but it rhymes.”
Magnets of Support and Resistance: Brooks stresses over and over again to learn about support and resistance levels. And how stocks and traders behave around those points. Important magnet levels include moving averages, opening prices, previous day highs or lows, and trading range start and end points.
Does the System Work?
Al Brooks trading methods are great but he’ll never guarantee profits or successful trading. Instead, he’s determined to educate traders enough that they can go off on their own and make money in the markets. Technical analysis and price action is great for people who don’t consider themselves long-term shareholders of a company.
Often fundamental analysis of things like a company’s financials, valuations, and future growth opportunities, can be difficult to stay on top of. And it can also be debated. Traders who use price action don’t have to worry about whether or not a company is profitable. Instead, they just focus on the stock’s behavior relative to the broader markets.
In a sense it is a purer way of investing, without having to rely on hours of research into a specific company, or worrying about negative catalysts that could affect the stock in the short term. Experienced traders can pull up a chart of nearly any stock and begin to identify whether or not there may be a short term or long term pattern that is beginning to form. It works incredibly well with normal stocks, but traders can exponentially grow their gains if they are able to incorporate options trading as well.
Should I Subscribe to the Brooks Trading Course?
In the end, this is a decision only you can make. Price action and technical analysis trading requires some dedication and time at a computer during trading hours, so if you are stuck at work or taking care of the kids, you may not find day trading to be the best strategy for you.
If you do have the time, the Brooks Trading Course is one of the best trading resources available to investors, and can truly change the way you look at the markets. If you’re looking for a quick sample before committing to the Al Brooks Trading Course, try out the courses we offer on basic and advanced day trading. This will help you gain a nice foundation on reading and interpreting stock charts.
Check out Al Brooks trading course here!
