Quote from rcanfiel:
...If something has value, it should have some outperformance capability. There are two kinds of variables: The dependent variables are those that are observed to change in response to the independent variables. The independent variables are those that are deliberately manipulated to invoke a change in the dependent variables. In short, "if x is given, then y occurs", where x represents the independent variables and y represents the dependent variables.
Otherwise, you are espousing voodoo... [/b] [/B]
I think any one with science background involving chemistry, medicine, biology would strongly disagree.
I'll repeat, there are areas of
science that in order to make something of value...
They need to occur in specific quantity, right conditions (e.g. temperature) and sometimes in the right order (e.g. genetics).
To isolate one thing and to TEST it to determine its value by
itself is one thing.
However, that's what you are doing and that is not how the market really works.
Therefore, why are you so persistent in testing the markets that way. 
Further, I hope you don't approach your trading the way you approach your testing.
Also, although you don't specifically say what marketsurfer saids about the comparison of science and art...
Your testing approach states for fact you are approaching trading from a scientific view.
Your continued debates about brokerage statements not being scientific evidence states for fact you are approacing trading from a scientific view.
Once again, I and other profitable traders that use TA are not using TA alone.
Therefore, if you want to learn the usefulness of TA you need to stand in the same shoes of a profitable trader.
If you are able to do that, you'll see that TA is just one chapter in the book called Profitable Trading.
Therefore, you cannot judge the merits of an entire book by one chapter only.
That's exactly what you are doing via saying those traders that are profitable and have years of proof of profitability...
There TA shall be tested along with ignoring everything else involved in their trading plan.
That is not a scientific way to approach the merits of the usefulness of TA.
Therefore, you should be doing what any other scientist does in his/her related field of study is to find out what are those
other variables that makes this one particular variable (as in TA) useful, change et cetera.
Remember those links many of use gave you in the past to investigate what profitable traders of TA are using to make their TA useful???
Here's the link again and you can go there and tell everyone that its just the
opinion of one person as you have in many other threads except for the threads below...
I wonder why???.
http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?threadid=113193
http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=83837
http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=61514
http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=50472
Go ahead...go to the first thread above and debate with them about the value of TA.
With that said, imagine yourself being bitten by a rattlesnake and it injects its poison into your blood to result in either death, gangrene infections or chronic muscle problems.
We all know the toxins are going to attack your nervous system, tissues, organs and other physiological systems et cetera via 100 - 200 different types of toxins depending upon the snake.
Therefore, it can be assummed that poison is not good for your body.
Ahhh...lets break poison down into its individual components (peptides) and you suddenly have medicine that's
useful in treating many known illness, infections and/or diseases when combined with other variables (e.g. treatments of muscle tissue recovery in cardiac arrest, stroke, tumor control et cetera).
Each peptide all by itself is not what they are being used as...
They become useful when in combination what other types of
voodoo as you call it.
Luckily
real scientists doesn't share your approach to scientific discovery.
Profitable traders that find usefulness out of TA are using it in combo with other variables.
You seem to prefer testing and/or applying approaches not being used by profitable traders.
Maybe that's why you are stuck inside that illusion that TA is not of any value and those that say it has value is just an opinion of
one person only (see brokerage statement links above to see its more than one person).
P.S. My academic background is immunology and genetics although I've never worked in that field beyond my internships of Medical Research.
I'll keep posting your past quote to show one contradiction out of many (others not worth mentioning).
Mark
Quote from rcanfiel:
TECHNICAL ANALYSIS:
PROS:
Probable that only things like support/resistance & trendlines have value.
CONS:
This is a large & complex belief system, that in spite of very significant tested evidence to the contrary, absolutely does not work.
Adherents rise up in defense of their faith, making this more of a religion than anything else.
Their statement of faith usually resembles "you have to know how to apply it" or "you have to combine indicators" or "you have to know when to apply it."
