The manual suggests that most money is made when weak hands are shaken out.
So, what actual trades does the Pats Price Action Trading Manual.pdf teach? It revolves around three primary patterns, usually traded on 5-minute, 15-minute, or 1-hour charts (often on the E-mini S&P 500 or liquid Forex pairs).
Downloading the PDF is step one. Step two is memorization. Here is a 30-day study plan recommended by PATs veterans:
Finding the PDF is only step one. Here is how to integrate it into your workflow without blowing up your account.
Delete every indicator. Yes, every single one. Your chart should have candles and horizontal lines only. (Some Pats purists allow a 20-period EMA for trend context, but the raw manual prefers naked). Pats Price Action Trading Manual.pdf
The manual simplifies trend analysis. Instead of complex trend lines or ADX indicators, Pat teaches a visual assessment of market structure:
The strategy is strictly Trend Following. The manual heavily discourages "fading" the trend or trying to pick tops and bottoms. The goal is to identify the dominant direction and look for an entry in that direction.
Once the trend is identified and a pullback is occurring, the trader waits for a specific "trigger" to enter. The manual focuses on specific candlestick patterns that signal the end of a pullback:
Mark was a losing trader. He had three monitors full of RSI, MACD, Stochastics, and Bollinger Bands. He lost money for two years. The manual suggests that most money is made
One day, a profitable friend said: "Strip your chart. No indicators. Just price and horizontal lines."
Mark laughed. But desperate, he tried it. That week, he studied Pats' core rules (the essence of the manual):
Rule 1 – The Trend Filter
He drew a simple 21-EMA (Exponential Moving Average) only to define bias.
Rule 2 – The Entry Trigger (2-bar reversal or FH/FL)
He waited for a 2-bar reversal at a key horizontal level: The strategy is strictly Trend Following
Rule 3 – The "No-Trade" Zone
The manual's secret: If price is chopping sideways (inside the previous 10 bars' range), do nothing. Patience is a position.
The Turning Point:
One Tuesday, EUR/USD was above the 21 EMA. Price pulled back to a prior resistance-turned-support level (horizontal line). Mark saw a down bar, then the next bar was an up bar closing above the down bar's high – a clean Bullish 2BR.
Old Mark would have hesitated. But following the manual's rule: "Enter on close of 2BR, stop 1 tick below the low of the 2-bar pattern."
He entered. Price ran 40 pips without a single indicator. No hesitation. No second-guessing.
The Lesson:
The manual is not about predicting – it's about reacting to what price already did. Every losing trade Mark took before was because he anticipated. Every winning trade after was because he waited for the pattern to complete.