How I Read the Market Without Using Technical Indicators
Most traders rely on a bunch of technical indicators — RSI, MACD, VWAP, Bollinger Bands — and the list goes on. But for me, all of that just added confusion. I needed a simpler way to read the market, one that actually made sense and helped me make money — not get lost in charts. So I cut out the noise and built a system that works without using technical indicators at all.
In this post, I’ll show you exactly how I read the market using nothing but price action, volume, and common sense. If you’re tired of cluttered charts and over-complicated strategies, this will feel like a breath of fresh air. And if you want to go deeper, I explain my full method step-by-step inside my ebook “Pay Bills With Stocks”.
Table of Contents
Why I Ditched Indicators Completely
I used to rely heavily on indicators. I’d wait for an RSI crossover, a MACD confirmation, and then check VWAP before making a move. But by the time everything aligned, the move was gone. I missed entries, exited late, and worst of all — I stopped trusting myself.
Eventually, I realized that all these tools were lagging. They reacted after price had already made its move. I wanted to be ahead, not behind. That’s when I started focusing on what truly matters — price behavior and volume.
I Start With One Question: Who’s in Control?
Every morning, I look at a chart and ask myself:
Are the buyers in control, or are the sellers?
That one question helps me instantly understand market sentiment without needing lines and arrows everywhere. I read the candles, the wicks, the gaps, and the volume. If the buyers are defending key levels, I know momentum might be forming. If sellers keep pushing down and volume fades, I stay away.
Price Action Tells Me the Whole Story
When I say price action, I mean the movement of the stock itself — not what an indicator tells me after the fact. I watch how it reacts to pre-market highs, intraday support, and psychological levels like $5, $10, or $20.
I don’t wait for a signal. I see the story unfolding live, and I’ve trained myself to recognize patterns that repeat. No fancy software. Just patterns, price levels, and discipline.
Volume Is My Confirmation
If price action is the story, volume is the confirmation. I look for surges of volume that support breakouts or breakdowns. If a stock moves without volume, I ignore it. I don’t guess — I want the market to show me commitment.
That’s how I decide whether to enter a trade. No RSI needed. If volume shows up at a key level, I pay attention. If not, I move on.
The Power of Pre-Market Analysis
Before the bell rings, I’m already watching what’s setting up. I scan for gappers, press releases, and early movers. This gives me clues about what traders are excited about — and what might have momentum once the market opens.
This is when I create my daily watchlist of 6 stocks max. I choose them based on price movement and catalysts, not indicators. If you want to know how I do this in detail, I break it all down inside my ebook.
I Let the Market Speak — Then I React
I don’t try to predict what’s going to happen. I watch and wait. When the market opens, I give it 10–15 minutes to show its hand. I’m not rushing to jump into trades. I’m looking for clear setups based on momentum and buyer strength.
I’ve learned that reading the market is about patience — not guessing. I watch for patterns I’ve seen hundreds of times before and act only when everything lines up.
Simplicity Gave Me Consistency
When I stopped relying on technical indicators, my results improved. My charts were clean. My decision-making was faster. I wasn’t stuck waiting for a signal or second-guessing myself.
This simple system gave me the consistency I needed to actually pay my bills with stocks — not just hope for a win here and there. And it’s exactly what I teach inside my ebook for anyone looking to simplify their trading.
I Use Free Tools — Nothing Complicated
You don’t need $300/month charting platforms. I use free stock screeners, simple candlestick charts, and clean layouts. It’s all about training your eyes to spot real opportunity — not being distracted by 10 indicators telling you 10 different things.
In the ebook, I list out all the tools I personally use, including the free ones I use daily to spot momentum stocks before 9:30AM.
My Mindset Changed Everything
Once I stopped depending on external signals, I started trusting myself more. I became more patient, more selective, and more profitable. This mindset shift is just as important as any trading method. Trading without indicators forced me to become disciplined and self-aware.
Final Thoughts
If you’ve been struggling with overcomplicated strategies and feel like your charts are overloaded with technical tools — step back. Clean it up. Simplify your trading. Focus on price, volume, and discipline.
That’s what worked for me. And if you’re ready to learn exactly how I put this into a daily routine that actually pays the bills, grab my ebook right here.
Your edge is already there — you just have to clear the screen and listen to the market.
I used to think I needed to “level up” my trading by adding more tools. But the truth is, the more tools I added, the worse my results became. Once I started focusing on the raw movement of price and volume, everything changed for me. The setups became clearer, and my entries more confident.
Another thing that helped was learning to identify zones instead of exact entry points. I stopped looking for one magical candle and instead paid attention to areas of interest — like where buyers showed up consistently or where sellers couldn’t break through. These zones helped me anticipate movement before it happened.
One major shift was when I began using the pre-market chart like a map. If a stock had a clean run-up before 9:30AM and held its gains, that gave me strong conviction. If it faded or bounced erratically, I stayed away. This pre-market action tells a story — and I learned how to read it clearly by watching, not overanalyzing.
Over time, I realized that every winning trade I made had one thing in common — momentum backed by volume. It didn’t matter if I used MACD or not. What mattered was whether the crowd was interested. Volume confirms that interest. That’s why I built my routine around it, and it’s a core principle I share in my ebook.
Another critical part of my trading is knowing when to do nothing. There are days when the setups don’t show up — and I don’t force anything. That discipline alone has saved me from massive losses. A clean chart, no indicators, and patience have been more powerful than any signal generator.
I also learned to recognize fake breakouts just by watching how a stock behaves near key levels. If price quickly spikes above resistance and fails without follow-through volume, I skip it. Indicators won’t catch that in time — but my eyes and experience will. It’s this intuition that grows when you stop outsourcing decisions to indicators.
What surprises most people is that I built this whole system with free tools. I use basic charting platforms and stock screeners that anyone can access. In my ebook, I walk through the exact platforms I rely on, so others can start without spending a fortune.
One thing that made a big difference was learning how to track my own setups. I screenshot my charts, log the behavior I saw, and review them weekly. Over time, I started noticing what consistently worked — and that didn’t include any indicators. Just behavior, levels, and reaction.
The truth is, you don’t need to know what everyone else is doing. You just need to understand how buyers and sellers react at specific moments. Reading those reactions in real-time gave me an edge that no oscillator ever could. I show exactly how I do this in the ebook — it’s all based on real trades and repeatable steps.
The freedom I feel now is something I wish I had found sooner. My charts are clean, my mind is clear, and my results are consistent. This is what happens when you simplify and trust the market, not some signal on your screen. Every day, I go into the market with a calm plan — and that alone changed the game.
Most of all, I created this blog and my ebook to help traders like me — people who wanted a real, working method but were tired of the overcomplication. This process has helped me pay bills, build savings, and trade with confidence. It’s not magic — it’s discipline and structure.
If you’re in a place where you feel lost with all the noise in trading, I invite you to clear your chart and try this approach. You might be surprised how much clarity and profit come from reading the market without a single indicator.