Price Action Trading: Why I Deleted All My Indicators (And Never Looked Back)

My charts used to look like a Christmas tree.

RSI. MACD. Bollinger Bands. Moving averages—three of them. Stochastic. Volume profile. Fibonacci retracements.

I couldn't even see the candles anymore.

And you know what? I was still losing money.

The Indicator Addiction

I get it. Indicators feel safe.

They give you numbers. Signals. "Overbought." "Oversold." "Golden cross." It feels scientific. Objective. Like the indicator knows something you don't.

But here's the truth nobody wants to hear:

Every indicator is derived from price. They're all lagging. They're all telling you what already happened.

RSI is overbought? Price already went up. That's why RSI is high.

MACD crossed? Price already moved. The cross is just confirming what you can see on the chart.

Moving average support? It's just an average of past prices. It doesn't "support" anything.

I spent years looking for the perfect indicator combination. The holy grail that would tell me exactly when to buy and sell.

It doesn't exist.

The Price Action Revelation

One day, I deleted everything. All of it. Just candles and volume.

At first, it felt naked. Scary. How would I know when to trade?

Then something clicked.

I started actually SEEING the chart. The patterns. The behavior. The story that price was telling.

And my trading improved. Dramatically.

What Price Action Actually Tells You

Price action is the language of the market. Every candle is a sentence. Every pattern is a paragraph.

Here's what I learned to read:

1. Rejection Wicks

A long wick shows rejection. Price tried to go somewhere and got pushed back.

Long lower wick at support? Buyers stepped in. Bullish. Long upper wick at resistance? Sellers stepped in. Bearish.

No indicator needed. The candle tells you everything.

2. Engulfing Patterns

When a candle completely engulfs the previous one, something changed.

Bullish engulfing at support? Buyers overwhelmed sellers. Momentum shifted. Bearish engulfing at resistance? Sellers overwhelmed buyers. Momentum shifted.

This is real-time information. Not lagging. Not derived. Direct.

3. Inside Bars

When a candle's range is completely inside the previous candle, the market is pausing. Consolidating. Building energy.

The breakout from an inside bar often leads to a significant move. The direction of the breakout tells you who won.

4. Trend Structure

Higher highs and higher lows = uptrend. Lower highs and lower lows = downtrend.

You don't need a moving average to tell you this. Just look at the chart.

When the structure breaks—when an uptrend makes a lower low—something changed. Pay attention.

My Price Action Strategy

Here's what I actually trade now.

The Support Rejection

1. Identify clear support level (multiple touches)
2. Wait for price to return to support
3. Look for rejection candle (long lower wick or bullish engulfing)
4. Enter on the close of the rejection candle
5. Stop: below the rejection wick
6. Target: previous high or resistance

That's it. No indicators. Just price behavior at a level.

I set this up in dashpull as a conditional order. Price enters support zone + bullish engulfing pattern = execute entry with predefined stop and target.

The Trend Continuation

1. Confirm trend (higher highs/lows or lower highs/lows)
2. Wait for pullback
3. Look for continuation candle in trend direction
4. Enter on candle close
5. Stop: beyond the pullback extreme
6. Target: new high/low

Again, no indicators. Just trend structure and price behavior.

Why Price Action Works Better

Let me explain the fundamental advantage.

Indicators react. Price action anticipates.

When you see a bullish engulfing at support, you're seeing buyer aggression in real-time. You're not waiting for an indicator to confirm what already happened.

When you see a rejection wick, you're seeing the market's immediate response to a level. Not a lagging average of past responses.

This matters because:

• Earlier entries = better risk/reward
• Real-time information = faster adaptation
• Direct observation = fewer false signals

The Candles I Actually Trade

Not all candles are created equal. Here are the ones I pay attention to:

Pin Bar / Hammer

Long wick, small body. Shows rejection.

• At support with lower wick = bullish
• At resistance with upper wick = bearish

Engulfing

Current candle completely covers previous candle.

• Bullish engulfing = buyers overwhelmed sellers
• Bearish engulfing = sellers overwhelmed buyers

Inside Bar

Current candle entirely within previous candle's range.

• Shows consolidation
• Breakout direction indicates winner

Doji

Small body, wicks on both sides. Indecision.

• At extremes, can signal reversal
• In trends, often just a pause

Reading the Story

Here's an example of how I read a chart.

Price rallies from $100 to $120. Strong uptrend, higher highs and lows.

At $120, a bearish engulfing forms. First sign of seller strength.

Price pulls back to $115. Finds support. Bullish pin bar forms.

This is my entry. The trend is up. The pullback found support. The pin bar shows buyers stepping in.

Stop below the pin bar low. Target: new high above $120.

No indicators told me this. The price action told the whole story.

Common Price Action Mistakes

Mistake 1: Trading Every Pattern

Not every pin bar is a trade. Not every engulfing is a signal.

Context matters. A bullish engulfing in the middle of nowhere means nothing. A bullish engulfing at major support after a pullback in an uptrend? That's a trade.

Mistake 2: Ignoring the Trend

Price action patterns work best with the trend.

A bullish pin bar in a downtrend is often just a pause before more selling. A bullish pin bar in an uptrend at support is a high-probability long.

Mistake 3: Looking for Perfection

Textbook patterns are rare. Real patterns are messy.

The engulfing doesn't have to be perfect. The pin bar doesn't have to be exactly at the level. Close enough is good enough.

Mistake 4: Overcomplicating

Price action is simple. Don't make it complicated.

You need:

• Key levels
• Trend direction
• Candlestick patterns at those levels

That's it. Everything else is noise.

Combining Price Action with Automation

Here's where dashpull becomes powerful.

I can define my price action conditions:

• Price in support zone
• Bullish engulfing pattern detected
• Volume above average

When all conditions are met, the order executes. I don't need to watch charts waiting for patterns.

This is the best of both worlds:

• Human analysis for identifying key levels
• Automated execution for pattern recognition
• No emotional interference in the moment

The Transition

If you're currently using indicators, here's how to transition:

Week 1: Remove all indicators except one moving average. Use it only for trend direction.

Week 2: Remove the moving average. Identify trend by structure (higher highs/lows).

Week 3: Focus only on key levels and candlestick patterns at those levels.

Week 4: Start paper trading pure price action setups.

It will feel uncomfortable at first. You'll miss the "confirmation" of indicators. Push through it.

After a month, you won't want to go back.

The Bottom Line

Price action trading isn't magic. It's not a secret technique that guarantees profits.

But it is direct. It is real-time. And it forces you to actually understand what the market is doing, not what an indicator says it's doing.

I deleted my indicators years ago. My trading improved. My understanding deepened. My results got better.

dashpull helps me execute price action setups with precision. Define the pattern, set the conditions, let the system watch. When price action confirms, the trade executes.

The market speaks through price. Learn to listen.

Ready to trade price action with precision? Try dashpull →