u/InvestigatorJolly262

I’m studying Al Brooks’ price action books right now, and I’m a bit confused about the role of volume.

Brooks focuses heavily on price action, bars, context, trends, pullbacks, breakouts, failed breakouts, etc., but he barely seems to use volume in his 5-minute chart analysis.

I’m planning to trade large-cap stocks like TSLA and NVDA. My idea was to use price action as the main framework, with EMA and VWAP as supporting tools.

But can I realistically ignore volume when trading these kinds of stocks?

Or is it better to learn Brooks’ price action framework on its own, and then separately study volume so I can apply it to individual stocks?

I’ve always been taught that volume is a major factor in trading, so it feels strange that Brooks’ approach mostly leaves it out. I’d appreciate any thoughts from people who trade large-cap stocks using price action.

I’m studying Al Brooks’ price action books right now, and I’m a bit confused about the role of volume.

Brooks focuses heavily on price action, bars, context, trends, pullbacks, breakouts, failed breakouts, etc., but he barely seems to use volume in his 5-minute chart analysis.

I’m planning to trade large-cap stocks like TSLA and NVDA. My idea was to use price action as the main framework, with EMA and VWAP as supporting tools.

But can I realistically ignore volume when trading these kinds of stocks?

Or is it better to learn Brooks’ price action framework on its own, and then separately study volume so I can apply it to individual stocks?

I’ve always been taught that volume is a major factor in trading, so it feels strange that Brooks’ approach mostly leaves it out. I’d appreciate any thoughts from people who trade large-cap stocks using price action.

I’m currently studying price action based on Al Brooks’ material, and I’ve noticed that he mainly explains concepts using E-mini (ES) futures charts and often frames things in terms of short-selling logic.

What I’m aiming to do, however, is trade large-cap individual stocks like Tesla or Nvidia. As far as I understand, these stocks tend to have a much lower level of short-selling participation compared to futures markets.

While I don’t have major difficulties understanding the material itself, I’m starting to wonder whether price action concepts that are taught using ES futures—especially those involving short-side dynamics—translate well to individual stocks.

If I develop a solid understanding of Al Brooks-style price action, will it still be applicable when trading stocks like Tesla?

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I’m trying to build a serious study process for day trading, and I’m considering focusing on just one very liquid ticker for a while: TSLA.

The idea is to review around 430 actual trading sessions, not calendar days. For each session, I would go day by day and look at what information was available at the time, then compare that with how TSLA traded intraday.

I’m not trying to create some perfect chartbook or massive archive of recaps. I’m also not asking for trade signals or trying to predict future moves from old charts. The goal is more practical: I want to train my eye and build a better feel for how TSLA behaves under different news and market conditions.

For each day, I’d review things like:

- TSLA-related news that was known before or during that session

- the broader market environment, especially QQQ/Nasdaq

- major catalysts such as earnings, delivery numbers, price cuts, recalls, China news, FSD/robotaxi headlines, Elon comments, analyst notes, macro events, etc.

- whether TSLA was moving mostly with QQQ or showing relative strength/weakness

- the opening structure

- VWAP behavior

- midday action

- how the stock behaved into the close

- what general “day type” it was

I would also compare my own notes with daily market recap or TSLA chart analysis videos from experienced traders, but only as a second opinion. The point would not be to blindly copy anyone’s trades. It would be to see how other traders viewed the daily chart, key levels, market context, and catalysts at the time.

What I’m hoping to get out of this is not a polished document, but a better decision-making framework. For example, I’d want to get better at recognizing what types of catalysts actually matter, when TSLA is mostly following QQQ versus trading independently, what opening structures are worth paying attention to, and what kinds of days are probably better to avoid.

My concern is the time commitment. Reviewing 430 sessions like this would probably take 2–3 months if I do several sessions per day. Part of me thinks that is a reasonable investment if I’m serious about specializing in one stock. Another part of me wonders if I’m just creating a huge research project instead of spending more time watching current sessions and paper trading.

So my main question is:

Does this sound like a useful way to study one highly liquid stock, or is 430 sessions too much because market conditions change anyway?

Would it be smarter to study only the most recent 100–150 sessions in detail, then spend more time live watching and paper trading current market days?

For traders who focus on one instrument or one ticker, how would you structure this kind of learning process?

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I’m thinking about doing a very structured historical review of TSLA, and I wanted to ask more experienced traders if this is a useful approach or if I’m just creating a huge project to avoid actually trading.

My idea is to focus only on TSLA for now.

For around 430 past trading days, I would go day by day and review:

\- What TSLA-related news was available at the time

\- The overall market environment that day, especially QQQ/Nasdaq

\- Any major catalysts like earnings, deliveries, price cuts, recalls, China news, FSD/robotaxi news, Elon comments, analyst notes, macro events, etc.

\- The intraday chart and how TSLA traded during that session

\- Whether it was mostly moving with QQQ or showing relative strength/weakness

\- The opening structure, VWAP behavior, midday action, and whether the close confirmed or rejected the move

\- What kind of “day type” it was

I would also use daily analysis videos from people like Wicked Stocks / Tesla-focused YouTubers as a kind of “answer key” or second opinion, not to blindly copy their trades, but to learn how they viewed the daily chart, key levels, and context at that time.

The goal would not be to predict the future from old charts. The goal would be to build a better feel for how TSLA reacts to different types of news, market conditions, and intraday structures, and eventually turn that into a small TSLA-specific playbook.

I’m thinking this would take around 2–3 months if I do several days per day. After that, I would start paper trading / live observation with a more structured daily routine.

My concern is whether this is actually useful, or whether 430 days is overkill because market conditions change. Would it be better to only study the most recent 100–150 days deeply and spend more time paper trading current market sessions?

Basically, my question is:

Has anyone here done something similar — reviewing one stock day by day with the actual news/context from that time and the intraday chart behavior?

Do you think this kind of study would help build real skill, or is it mostly hindsight analysis?

If you were trying to specialize in one very liquid stock like TSLA, how would you structure the learning process?