By Brian Shannon, written with Kyna Kosling (@KayKlingson).

First published on March 13, 2026.

You can only capitalize on price movements if you get into the stock before the move is complete.

The earlier in the move you participate, the larger your profit potential.

To do this strategically, with a repeatable edge, you need to position yourself ahead of the crowd, not chase after them.

You must anticipate how other participants are likely to (re)act before price moves.

However, newer traders in particular tend to fixate on “I want to buy stock XYZ,” without considering:

• Who are you buying the stock from?

• Why are they willing to sell that stock to you?

• What are your odds of getting your full order filled at the price you want?

You can’t just look at the market from your personal perspective, but need to consider overall market dynamics.

After all, you’re participating in an auction market—and are therefore competing against every other participant.

To anticipate your opponents’ next move, you need to get inside their heads.

This requires you to be a step or two ahead of the participants you’re competing against. That’s how you maximize your reward potential while minimizing your risk.

You may now be wondering: “But Brian, isn’t that complicating things? Shouldn’t I just focus on my own trading? Why worry about what other people think?”

I’m not telling you to listen to other people’s opinions. In fact, I actively discourage it! Instead, focus on your own rules of engagement, reflecting your strategy and timeframe.

However, you do need to humanize the charts to understand how all participants are collectively acting on their opinions.

Determine where supply and demand forces come together to provide you with an edge.

To gauge these dynamics, you must understand the motivations of the other participants, then interpret:

• How those motivations will likely influence their next actions.

• How those actions may move price.

This type of study is especially important as a trader (as opposed to a long-term investor), because you need to consider how different timeframes come together.

This allows you to time your trade more precisely—but precise execution requires you to anticipate levels of interest.

Look ahead and consider where a large group of participants are likely to act.

Like in a game of chess, you can’t just focus on your own moves.

You’re playing a game of psychology against every other market participant in the world. So, think about their likely next actions, and consider which are likely to give you a low-risk, high-probability opportunity for profit. Ask questions like:

• Where are breakouts or reversals likely to occur?

• Where will long holders be forced to liquidate to escape a larger loss?

• Where will short sellers become nervous about growing losses and be forced to cover their bearish bets?

Specifically, you’re looking for price zones that may get enough participants involved for the balance of supply and demand to shift, such that the buyers take over control from the sellers (or vice versa). In other words, you’re looking for areas of potential support and resistance.

Then, for the best risk–reward, you want to position yourself just as you see the first signs of this shift. Look for the onset of fresh momentum.

Every chart tells a story—but only if you know how to read it.

For example, when you see a stock breaking through resistance, you’re witnessing demand overwhelming supply:

• Sidelined cash piles into the stock (adds demand).

• Short sellers cover (adds demand).

• Long holders wait for higher prices before locking in profits (removes supply).

These aren’t just lines on a chart—they’re human emotions playing out in real time. Behind those patterns, real people are making real decisions with real money on the line. Remember: Price charts help you visualize the unfolding supply and demand dynamics of the markets.

That’s why you shouldn’t just memorize chart patterns, but also understand the psychology behind them.

The beauty of human nature is that it’s constant.

Fear and greed don’t change.

The desire to make money and avoid losses is universal.

That’s why similar patterns appear across all timeframes and all markets—because participants go through the same emotions, whether they’re day trading off a 5-minute chart, swing trading off a daily chart, or position trading off a weekly chart.

Trading with multiple timeframes amplifies this advantage.

Different timeframes provide different pieces of the same puzzle. 

Different timeframes provide different pieces of the same puzzle.

By viewing the same stock at different levels of magnification, you’re trading with strategic information other people miss, allowing you to:

1️⃣ Place higher-probability trades.

2️⃣ Maximize your risk–reward.

Humanizing the chart on a single timeframe gives you insight into the psychology of the crowd on that timeframe. By gaining that same insight on multiple timeframes, you build up a more complete picture of the stock’s health and possible price scenarios, improving the accuracy of your analysis.

This doesn’t guarantee winning trades—certainties don’t exist in the markets. However, you dramatically improve your ability to anticipate likely price scenarios and position yourself accordingly.

When you humanize the charts, you stop obsessing over pattern memorization and start seeing predictable human behavior.

P.S. You can learn more about incorporating multiple timeframes into your trading strategy in my article “6 Ways You Can Trade With Multiple Timeframes.”