To Aphexcoil,
I am afraid I am inclined to agree with your sentiments in your opening post. I am not sure whether it is necessary to discuss the merits of TA- Some can't trade without it and some can't be bothered with it- Each to his own, I say.
It is exceedingly easy to make trading exceedingly difficult.
There are plenty of successful traders that have developed their own strategies using all sorts of TA combinations, indicators, parameters, etc., etc. and that is fine for them- all well and good!
However, there are plenty of successful traders who would prefer not to have to look at any of them(patterns, indicators, etc., etc.) They have figured out a methodology of tape reading, looking at price charts(probably with volume) or whatever and being able to "visualize" a potentially successful trade and that is fine for them- all well and good.
As far as I can tell, the ONLY thing that matters at the end of the hour, day, or week, month(pick your time frame) is your account has more money in it than when you started(And that you enjoyed doing it!) The end justifies the means!(as long as it is legal (or mostly ) )
You can go long, go short, stand aside, trade 100 times a day, trade once a month- doesn't matter. You can trade Emini's, NYSE, NASDAQ, ETF's. You can also scan all the markets for something to trade or you can pick one stock and trade it forever.
All that is necessary is to make good trades, consistently, over and over and over, and over. . . . . . . . . . . AND have some method or strategy for risk control, discipline, money management, i.e. controlling the downside so you don't blow up your account.
When dealing with any market(that's not "fixed"), after all the examination and analysis of any kind- it is still a guess- it might be a very good guess, you might have the probabilities in your favor(hopefully) but it is STILL a guess.
AND, as always,