Technical Analysis is good to know. It is like a map to the destination. But knowing the route will not help you drive a vehicle in any way. If one sits behind a car with a knowledge of the route will surely crash badly if he does not know how to drive. So compare knowing how to drive a car (say start, steer, accelerate, brake) to entering and managing your trade. These would be your entries, adds, SL, trailing SL, exits etc. Now you know the route, and you know how to drive. Is that good enough? No - you can kill yourself (or your account) if you don't know the rules. Signals, driving on the right side of the road, slowing down and doublechecking at intersections, and giving way to reckless drivers tailgating you. Compare these to your rules of money management. If you know how to drive, but want to speed at max, what can happen if there is an unexpected pot hole, speed brake, oil spill on the road, or a child crossing the street? Your driving (inspite of knowing the route, and handling the car) has to ensure that you follow the rules, so that one or two bad trades do not total your car, which in this case is your trading account. So money management is a much, much under appreciated skill. Just think - how many accidents are caused by young drivers, who just have got a new licence, have less experience, but want to drive fast (because they can?) Most traders are like that - they have a trading account, know a bit about technical analysis and want to make it big - alike speeding in a new car with account. This has been my experience too.... where I too made a lot of mistakes and blew up my account many times.... but trading as well as life teaches you to be humble..... and just as one would be careful while driving, one has to do the same with one's trading account. Learn from books, but learn more from your own personal experience. No teacher, books will prepare you or teach you as much you can from your own personal experience.....
To continue with our analogy of driving, with all above, one may be competent to drive the car, to be a good driver one needs the right mindset. A good driver will never try to over take another car on the bends, or overtake from a blind-spot (not being able to see the road ahead clearly) These are all matters of psychology - Nobody will tell you this when you go to take your driving licence. But as you drive the car, you will learn many things yourself. So my suggestion to you is to : Read, Reflect and imbibe (make these a part of your trading psychology)
And lastly discipline - Knowing the rules of driving will not ensure that you follow it. So too with your trading account. You may learn everything there is to learn about trading well. But if you do not have the discipline to follow, your trading P&L will tell the story.
Now having said all the above, let me answer your question. To learn about trading (and not just technical analysis) suggest :
* Read all about Japanese Candlestick Patterns
* Money Management
* Trading psychology & Discipline
* Read about Price Action Trading. (Google blog of Nial Fuller. There are many good articles there)
* Al Brooks - Trading price action bar by bar - Read this book finally. (I have tried to read this book a few times, but it is difficult to fully comprehend)
Most important : Look at the chart of a particular commodity realtime and at end of day. Mark the highs, low, swing points, pinbars, dojis, biggest bull bar for the day, biggest bear bar for the day, what happened in the 5 bars previous and subsequent to this..... Check for the Moving Average (5 Minute chart, 20EMA) (I don't use any other indicators) See where the price moved from a highest/lowest price. What happened in the preceding and subsequent 5 price bars? Which bar would have given you best entry? Ask yourself - Is the chart trending or sideways? How do you define these? How do you define a breakout/breakdown from a sideways range? Do this for a month, and along with other tools of trading, you will do well.
Is it recommended to trade on first strong bullish/bearish candle?