"We know that prices move up and down. They always have and they always will. My theory is that behind these major movements is an irresistible force. That is all one needs to know. It is not well to be too curious about all the reasons behind price movements. You risk the danger of clouding your mind with non-essentials. Just recognize that the movement is there and take advantage of it by steering your speculative ship along with the tide. Do not argue with the condition, and most of all, do not try to combat it."- Jesse Livermore
(Now someone is going to go off on a tangent about if Livermore had a screw lose or whatever, but that is not the point).
Note that Livermore does NOT say he can predict trend, that he knows in advance where it will END... he knows very well that he does not need to. All he needs to know that a move has started and that it will last until it ends. He wants to be along for the ride.
All that he and many other guys who made fortunes did was find a way to identify that a Move has started and then ride it until their criteria told them that it was over. Period. And you seriously want to tell them that they could not have made fortunes or that it was all luck?
That coin-flip thing never made any common sense whatsoever to me. If a testing lab can not find trends, they should throw out their tests and start again: that is like saying a surfer could not surf because he can not predict how long the wave will last., or a sailor could not sail since he is not sure the wind will continue...
He does not need to! All he needs to do is sit there with his board or boat and wait for a good wave or a breeze. Then he rides it. Does he need to get on the wave when it begins, out in the middle of the ocean? NO! Does he need to know where the wave ends when he gets in? NO! The wave will TELL him when it is time to get out. The wave will show signs that it is breaking, and he will exit!
... kind of funny to hear this kind of argument from someone with a name like marketsurfer
