{"id":262,"date":"2025-01-01T19:28:32","date_gmt":"2025-01-01T19:28:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/50yeartrader.com\/blog\/goodman-white-space-clean-setups\/"},"modified":"2026-09-30T21:26:29","modified_gmt":"2026-09-30T21:26:29","slug":"goodman-white-space-clean-setups","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/50yeartrader.com\/blog\/goodman-white-space-clean-setups\/","title":{"rendered":"Goodman White Space: What Charlie Meant by a Clean Setup"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

For Charlie, the two primary Goodman Setups, the Goldilocks and the 6 & 6 \/ Molokai, had to be “clean” to qualify as trade candidates. Of course, Charlie being Charlie, he never defined for me what he meant by clean. I had to sort it out for myself and, me being me, I called such qualified setups “sexy.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Where the Term Came From<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Around 2012, Goodman student Ken W., a retired dentist, presumably used to working in tight spaces under difficult conditions, took my “Clean-Sexy” story about setups and came back the next lesson with this: “What Charlie meant was ‘white space’ areas between swing points with no price action, just blank (‘white’) chart background.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That resonated with me and I have used the term since. Thank you, Ken! Here is the Goodman White Space diagram:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Goodman
White Space in a Goldilocks Setup.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The areas bordered by two black swings and a hatched green swing are the primary White Space areas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The astute Market Environments student will conclude quickly that “thickness,” meaning overlap between successive price bars, is anathema to white space.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Extra for Experts: the black-green-red triangular “secondary” areas might be worth exploring. Get out your high school trigonometry book!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why White Space Matters<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

What matters is that Charlie wanted to see a buyer-seller struggle as the setups form, indicating both sides had life. Such a struggle is most apparent in clean, sexy charts with lots of white space. Setups with lots of white space jump right out at you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two Real-World Examples<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Here are two real-world examples of clean Goodman setups with decent white space:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Goldilocks
A Low In The Saddle Goldilocks with clear white space. Chart courtesy of MetaTrader 5.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The chart above is also an example of a LITS (Low In The Saddle) Goldilocks, where the EP of the Back Matrix FPS is close to the BP of the Front Matrix FPS. It also has a strong risk-reward ratio because the EP of the Back Matrix SPS is itself close to the BP of the Front Matrix FPS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Second
A second clean setup. Chart courtesy of MetaTrader 5.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Charlie Says<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

“No single factor or Overlay can make or break a trade candidate. It is in the balance and sum of Overlays by which a trade candidate is decided ‘yeah’ or ‘nay.'”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This post is educational commentary. It is not investment advice. Trading futures and FX involves substantial risk of loss.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Good Trading in 2025!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Michael Duane Archer<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Related Reading<\/h2>\n\n\n\n