I read the book awhile back but since the period covered was a very bullish market I felt the results would have to be skewed.
a lot of t.a. patterns are B.S. , others it's kind of hard to unlearn them when you have used them and they don't work well anymore, patterns are useful but probabl y work differently depending on which market you are in.
Im pretty new at this day trading game and I use charts and couple indicators. Ive found for short term moves the basic TA patterns still work. I traded a cup and handle on BRLC today and it made a small move like I thought it would. I also traded a flag on FLOW and it moved correctly. I tend to only trade trending daily patterns so my risk is limited..but so is my reward. Anyway... chart patterns still work. But you have to be much choosier about them it seems and dont expect to much out of the move.
Be assured as your trading progresses and the understanding, interpretation of chart patterns is honed with actual mkt experience. Then You will further understand that charts are indeed a reflection of mkt participants expressing their opinions about value and or their position in the mkt. Whoever it was that said humans do not and have not changed the natural and learned instincts of FEAR & GREED wins in this discussion. Computers have made some things faster but they have not changed the makeup of the person at the keyboard. So believe what you see on the screen, like it or not, that is what the 10% of winners are looking at. (who do you give all those losses to? ) Quit trying to reinvent the wheel and quit worrying about why. Act it out, play the game, you are supposed to be making money, not deciding that computers will destroy the game. Remember this: Garbage in, Garbage out. What are your inputs to be a winner? Thats what you need to worry about. Have fun, but be real. ..
and a side note, but VERY important one. This is a game of the odds, a game of probability. You guys that think trading is not going to produce mumerous losses and think that all patterns MUST be 100% accurate are fooling yourself. Learn how to live with losses or do yourself a favor and throw in the towel now and go back to tinker toys and that card game called "FISH".
A chart of the population of humans, to the chart of global warming temperatures look similiar to stock price charts.
the point is that a pattern alone does not make a profitable trading method. it is not very difficult to recognize a pattern that consists of a few single price bars. anyone could do this. what matters is the bigger picture in which a certain pattern occurs. what happened up to that pattern? what happened the day(s) before, etc. and even if you have that - it's still a long way to a profitable method. because a pattern most of the time only represents an entry opportunity. then you have to find out where *exactly* your entry point is. then what is the proper stop size for a certain pattern/situation? and most of all - what is your profit target? the pattern is just the beginning. (and should you find a pattern that "fails" most of the time - then just fade it...)
I guess like everything else in the market: the chart pattern is defined by the eye of the reader. I would not touch a short term pattern of classic TA with a 10 foot pole. Even charts with a 1 hour interval can be so much random noise.....to me
Quote from hoodooman: If you really want to know then get the book and read it. And you wonder why you didn't get any replies . . . No good deed ever goes unpunished. No one is as blind as those that do not choose to see.