Charts show basically the same patterns as years ago. If anything the HFT's and algos have made them more precise because they are removing the emotional element. 70% or so of the trades in ES are computers. 25% are your traditional institutions and lastly 5% retail traders. Look at any chart today. It matters not that computers created the patterns or manual traders did. The same basic patterns are there. They were there 50 years ago. They are there today. They will most certainly be there thru our lifetime. Many HFT's are operating at a sub second level so if you are trading 5 or 15 min charts these basically won't effect you at all, at worst, little effect. Stoplosses may have to be put a little further out of reach as sometimes algo's will push price up or down and knocking out traditional stops then price immediately reverses.
I been ill past 9.5 years, first 2.5 years were manual trading and so hard, bathroom was my office. I traded less short term and more long, hired to get automated and all systems automated now. 2 of 14 are based on math and rest are chart/indicators based. Some monthly down to 2 tick charts, 8 scalp/daytrading, 2 HFTs, 4 swing to very long term. 40 years of staring at charts, am most comfortable there and keeping open mind. I just dont notice anything not seen before at some point. Trading and ET often been outlets to stay almost sane. LOL
Seriously though OP. If you mean charts in terms of representing quantifiable data, that’s all fine and dandy. But if you mean V, W, triangular, square, and circular price patterns, then we’re talking voodoo.
1. ES charts were fine this year, as always. Yes, volatility was low much of the time. That only means you should expect to make your gains in smaller chunks. 2. Spend time on becoming a better chart player. When you get a handle on that, you won't be listening to anybody for market advice. 3. K.I.S.S., as always.
This is backed by research fwiw. Andrew Lo from MIT did a massive study on technical analysis patterns if you want to check it out.