Nice way you described in the second paragraph, I like it. The problem what makes people get hooked to TA is that it initially works because the market sometimes exhibits trends and they think it was their indicator that made them jump on the train. However, the trend could not care less about any TA or indicators. One time the trend will be broken and no TA in the world will predict this, and this is part of the randomness in the market. On the other side some TA followers claim that their analysis guides them in trendless markets longing when support holds and shorting when resistance holds. Well, they make small bucks each way but once support/resistance breaks they lose big time. This is where risk management comes in. Those who now immediately cut the position will do well but at the same time its their admission that TA DID NOT work. TA can guide in some very limited way but I get the impression as soon as I hear people talking about Elliott waves, gann, fibonacci and all this stuff they go over the top and make it religion. This is absolute nonsense.
Quote from aeliodon:
ALL OF TA IS UTTERLY USELESS if you code it and back/foward test it. Only in the hands of a VETERAN TRADER WITH A STRONG INTUITIVE/LOGICAL/RATIONAL UNDERSTANDING OF THE MARKET CAN CONSISTANTLY PROFIT FROM IT SO LONG AS HE TOO ASSUMES A RANDOM UNDERLYING.
RANDOM does not mean PATTERNLESS or TRENDLESS it means there is no way to PREDICT the Patterns and Trends that emerge AHEAD OF TIME. BY THAT DEFINITION MUCH OF THE UNIVERSE IS RANDOM, exept for a handful of laws and constants.
