I've been learning to trade stocks for a while now and so far on all my trades (about 10) I've either made a loss or a very small profit. At first I just didn't have enough knowledge but even by studying extensively my trades have failed recently.
For me technical analysis seems useless now.
When you draw support and resistance lines, you have no idea if it will break out until it actually does. So you can't rely a lot on those even though they're supposed to be the main strategy in trading. Even if it doesn't break out, the price might not increase by a lot which will result in a loss for people with smaller accounts like mine because of the fees.
Candlesticks are also unreliable as you cant rely them on predicting price movement as a lot of time it will be wrong. (1/3 of the time as i read somewhere)
Patterns don't occur as often as you would like them to, especially the bullish ones. Even if they do, it is difficult to predict price when you use them in conjunction with S&R and candlesticks.
Even if we consider all of the above as reliable, large buyers influence the market and some even manipulate which overpowers all of the above. And you have no idea of where this occurs without reading the tape, which I don't have access to because of the costs.
Most of the indicators are useless and don't predict the price direction most of the time.
I know people make profit from technical analysis but they also make a substantial amount of losses too. However with fundamental analysis you can predict how the firm is going to perform in the future (hence predict the stock price).
Correct me if I'm wrong and show me the correct ways of technical analysis if there are any because after all my research I still don't understand.
How long's a while? Many have said it took 2, 3, 5 or even 10 years to become profitable.
TA seems useless to you now, because by the sound of it you're a long way off mastering it.
IMO, if you want to trade short term--that is holding positions for minutes, hours or a few days--then technical analysis is a must.
S/R, trendlines, candlesticks (and more specifically what they represent) and patterns (and what they represent) are all useful tools which you shouldn't abandon. It is debatable whether you should be using indicators - the consensus has been if you must, then stick to just one indicator and get used to it - it doesn't matter which one.
Understanding how fundamentals affect the value of a stock over longer timeframes
could give you an edge, but poor application of fundamental analysis could, equally erode your technical edge: using both can lead to conflicting signals. Again, IMO, fundamentals can be useful in determining the magnitude of a move that occurs over weeks or months, but won't help you time your entries and exits. Additionally, news about changes in fundamentals can act as a catalyst, which can be exploited.
Trading's difficult because of the large degree of randomness, and therefore uncertainty. High frequency randomness, on top of medium frequency randomness, on top of lower frequency randomness, over all timeframes. It's no wonder it seems almost impossible to grasp at first. The opportunities are there, every day, but you'll need to study, and then study some more (and some more) before you'll be able to recognize the setups that are worth betting on. Though, it won't be plain sailing from there, as you'll always need to manage the randomness (the risk).
Think carefully about your criteria for getting into (holding / exiting) a position. If price is at S/R, then why would you bet on price breaking out vs reversing or going sideways? And even if the probabilities are in your favor of, say a breakout, is there much potential for a decent sized move? How many factors support your idea and how many factors contradict your idea? And how valid / significant are those factors - is your model / hypothesis really representative of reality?
Jumping into the markets too soon will lead to frustration.
You've asked a specific question, which is a step in the right direction, but there a probably more pertinent questions that you should seek answers to. How about starting another thread, such as:
"I'm new to trading, what is the most pertinent question I should ask?"
