Not to take this too far off-topic, but the key is to understand the basic concept of Brownian Motion. The underlying that 'perturbs' prices -- that are seemingly chaotic -- is volume and order flow. Understand this and you'll understand why prices do as they do. Don't believe me? Step a random number generator in Excel and create a graph. Notice how similar it is to actual market charts. There is a major difference in the markets though and that is the existence of volume.
The original poster is looking for answers regarding successful trading methodologies. I made a suggestion for the OP to look one-step further than standard price patterns. Everyone is different, but in my personal experience, most successful traders that I have come across over the past decade have a very strong understanding of volume. Thus, I suggest it is key to understand Brownian Motion because it provides an academic framework and its models are applicable to the markets.