@Sprout -- OMG! Combine your recommended:
"The wisdom of the crowd" video and now the
David McCandless -- "The Beauty of Data Visualization" video
These two recommended Video Posts by you are Must Watch to "Fertilize" the Trader's
Brain. YES, your points are well taken regarding the power to understand markets utilizing proper tools to do so. True, we are
overloaded with way too much data input and therefore, your point is well taken -- Visuals Help. Markets are "Crowd" data sets and Visuals permit the quicker more efficient use of the Data obtained when making Trading Decisions. (One Picture is Worth a Thousand Words).
So, we get a flood of data inputs from many sources, one of which may be charts, then more input from news feeds, add indicators, add etc. and this makes for TMI and often leads to analysis paralyzes. Lack of clarity and contra or co-linear data inputs leads to losses.
Therefore, in that regard charts may help some traders in their decisions. For me, there are more concise and integrated visual tools. For Example:
View attachment 180858
This one graph which shows the trades I have open in the ThinkorSwim Live Trading account -- in one glance I can determine any management required and the present risks as well as P&L. This may be used to enter trades as well as being able to manage while open. No charts were necessary when placing the trade as the required data was simply based on the statistical probability of profit (POP). The learning curve to use this tool is less than using charts and perhaps many other data inputs. (This may require more detailed information on how to read it and if there is interest in that I will try and post a video.)