Pretty simply, the study of past performance to predict (hate that word) the probable direction of future price movements. All types of analysis generally do the same thing but certain aspects of different types of analysis set them apart from TA. IMO...the biggest flaw with TA is it leads a trader to take one position or the other -- long or short. Advanced trading moves far beyond the simple buying or selling of a security.
As a brief example, what is the correlation between Gold and Silver? Is there a trade that involves being long one and short the other? What is the leverage? To balance (minimize your risk) what size position do you take in each. What about bond futures? There's a multitude of opportunities with those instruments.
Technical Analysis doesn't even enter this realm. The market is one gigantic random number generator and as such, the best tools for analyzing such a beast is Statistical Analysis. Computational Finance and Stochastic Calculus are extremely valuable tools. I took 3 semesters and 2 semesters, respectively. The education I received in this program has paid for itself many, many times over.
If you want to be successful in the markets you have understand and use the tools that your strongest competitors are using.
<i>"Why does TA not work (for you)?"</i> Because it is an inferior strategy and it's used by the masses. What does that tell you when the losing rate is generally accepted as 95% and my guess is 95% of traders use TA and nothing else.
Just think about being long the 5-year and short the 30-year, for example, and then pulling in the 10-year for shits and giggles. What is the relationship between all these instruments. What do you do when they generate an outlier? What can be accomplished by taking positions in these instruments in different time frames (expiration dates)?
<b>Trading is limited only by your imagination and your acumen for mathematics. </b> Learn to move beyond being long or short an instrument with a stop. Stops generate losses due to the random element of the market. Managing risk through spreads and such do not involve stops. Average up? Average down? It's truly limitless!
Quote from ammo:
surf, what in your mind does TA stand for/include