Sorry but TA is worthless, divergence is moronic.
Just watch price, it will go up and down in waves, sometimes it will have momo behind the waves, to push it higher and higher, when so only play long side.
Market is going up, pulls back, pauses as it attracts buyers, get in low tight SL in its buyers range, it will either hit SL or move up, try to make more from the move up, than the SL will cost you.
Candle sticks, rsi everyone is using them and everyone is losing, don't follow.
And remember, everybody lies!
Love that quote about everyone lies.
TA isn't worthless, it's just nearly worthless for what most people use it to do, to predict the direction of price in the trade at hand. So I'm not really disagreeing with you, I am a TA trader, and I have one foot in both camps, TA is worthless (most of my weight is on this foot) and TA isn't worthless, the distinction is what you are relying up TA to do:
Technical analysis is just a tool, not an edge. TA offers five gifts:
1. It measures what the market is doing
2. It spots divergences (yes, I know you don't like this, but I do. There's no difference between observing price doing something you find predictive and observing a divergence you find predictive. A guess is a guess. (Argue that I'm wrong, all I know came from arguing with smart people like yourself).
3. It makes a prediction
4. It structures a trade in the form of an entry point, stop loss, and profit target
5. It tells you when you are wrong.
By far, the weakest of these gifts is the prediction, the chief virtue of which is it gives you enough faith to pull the trigger, and almost no edge at all in terms of probability (hence your comment, TA is worthless)
The strongest of these gifts is knowing when you are wrong.
The days of TA giving you a big edge in prediction are long past, but that doesn't mean this tool is worthless. Trading is about being on the right side, but it's also about timing your trade. You can't make money without understanding trend and range, and I know no other way to survive volatility than to use TA to understand what you need to prepare for to survive.
Summary: Long winded argument outside your observation that TA can't pick the right side. Agreed, you are 100% correct, it can't.