"Hmmm...what about S/R?" In a higher volatility, break-out trend formation kind of market you will get smoked fading/timing S/R levels. That's where the trendline and channel break-out systems really shine. Vice-versa in your lower volatility, range-bound markets. The undeniable truth is that you will have to make adjustments for any trading system - no such thing as some sort of 'universal truth' that lasts decades. You make your money, and when you invariably take a few lumps, you adjust accordingly and get right back at it.
Now that I think more into detail of this: even the people I know that use indicators use de facto a combo of price actoin and indicators. I couldn't trade if my life depended on it without at least six charts ...
It may too late to adjust then. Good systems function well under many possible market conditions. To accomplish that you have to test them using the longest possible history. You know what happens to those that followed your paradigm and tested system in 2007 using only data for the last two years. They got ruined when the correction came along. Then they adjusted and when the rally started last year they got ruined again. Now they are trying to adjust to that and so on....
"It may too late to adjust then. Good systems function well under many possible market conditions." The market just doesn't change in an instant - you see it in your P&L as your Win/Loss ratio comes off. You keep track of your performance metrics in a spreadsheet, and you can even plot them from Excel. I make adjustments in my models between range-bound to trending markets and vise-versa. Since 1995 I've had to make three major adjustments to my trading system. And for me at least, I chose to change my technical study formats completely - in my personal opinion there is no 'optimum technical study' that performs beautifully in all market conditions. My technical study approach to trending markets is completely different than a range-bound market - the entry signals are generated off of completely different studies, and the profit and stop/loss targets are calculated differently. But the biggest factor was the trade timeframe holding period - it's alot easier in a trending market, especially since you can employ a trailing stop for longer time periods.
"Do you believe that working S/R is a long term poor way to trade?" Sensational choice of context, as usual. My point is that any technical trading model will require adjustments over time. For example, how many different ways are there to calculate support and resistance levels, even for day trading? I can think of several different S/R calculation techniques for intraday trading - all yielding different results.
Huh? Two simple questions. Can you answer them? Questions: Do you day trade? Do you believe that working S/R is a long term poor way to trade?
"Questions: Do you day trade? Do you believe that working S/R is a long term poor way to trade?" Besides from being short and confrontational, maybe ask a better question. What is your definition of "day trading" - specifically, what is your holding period? Makes a big difference with S/R levels. For pivot points alone, you can "day trade" off of daily, weekly, or monthly (R1S1, R2S2, R3S3) levels - and when you vary the sampling periods the results vary. And you want to vary the sampling periods dependent upon market volatility. If I am going to hold a trade for 15 seconds, I can calculate S/R levels off of tic data for that matter. And that's my entire point - to be really good off of technical models you have to tune that model towards what works with a market, and the dynamics of the market will change over time on you.