Dear Placebo, and friends with similar thought process,
First and foremost thing, just speak your mind here, nobody is going to get hurt for a school of philosophy... for a different perspective, ... at the least i am not...
There are two kinds of people who contribute to the Society, excuse me if I sound very plain, simple and laymanish, but that's how things are in my life. ..
The Conservatives & Puritans, second, the Moderates & progressives... which one is the best.... guess what... both are important for the society, we owe our heritage, culture and even language to the Puritans, the Conservatives... but the Moderates and progressives are the ones who brought the developments and removed the draconian way of life.... both have played a part, both are important...
It's like the spiritualist and the Materialist.... even the hardcore materialist kneels downs at times and the biggest spiritual healer pops a pill.... I will never be part of the 'Either Or' debate....
As your name suggests placebo... 'Placebo is all about belief and trust, it's not about the chemicals & research.... it's plainly about Belief'... what if we say there are a set of people who feel more comfortable looking at the MACD then just the bar chart... will he have the result or not... if you believe in Placebo, you have to believe in me.... The very id that you selected talks about 'subjectivity, about belief over facts, about mind over matter... and that's exactly is what Technical analysis... for me...
My system gives the Price action a face, a shape, what is invisible becomes visible to me... I can see how it's gonna react, I can try to predict how it will move.... no not because of the invisible, price action.. but because of the indicators I have... you have the liberty of saying that yo
u onlly use a 20 ema and that's not a indicator... I can object and say, sorry sir, that's my indi, your candlestic high and lows are our contributions... but it will be in vain..
i said this before and will repeat, all surgeries and trials were done on a dead body,
looking at the historical data is the most important thing.... the medical science survives on it.... even the Human history survives on it... the old adage says, ' History repeats itself' but nobody wants to learn... that's the point... we as technical analysts try to learn from the history.... as Solomon says, ' nothing is new under the sun'.
If you say, studying the history is futile, then everything is futile... in my career as a trader, I have tried everything.... and as my career as a trainer.... I have seen some amazing things.... its all about Belief in what you are doing... and nothing grants you that more than a system or strategy... and which invariably has an Indicator...
you can call it 20 ema or whatever.... there is an indicator............. always....
Indicators for me are like glasses........... are they accurate ..... no never....... will they suffice............. sure........... but you need to believe and know the limitations.... that's what my Indicators are for me.... my glasses... and trust me I can't live without my glasses