So, what am I missing ?

You said (If there is a pattern/ strategy/ edge to consistently beat the market using price action and charts then competition from other traders should make it disappear or at least make it difficult to beat the market after costs)

a)Patterns are always appearing, It takes time to recognize the ones that you can trust. It takes money management skills to keep you from losing too much on a given trade. I don't risk more than 100$ on a given trade. If the day trading margin is 1k and your account is 6K? How many tries do you think you have if you only risk 100$ per trade? "Lots" but you can also burn thru it quick if you don't have a solid plan and money management skills. Also how many losses do you need to make to realize you don't know what you are doing?

Best to experiment with Demo account first. There are tons to learn and know. But there is no beating the market, as Handle123 has said you will be trading against yourself, especially when real money is on the line. Markets will destabilize you when you are trading for real and they will find your weakness. Best to look at this as gambling, when you risk money you are just taking a bet on a transaction and hope your entry will give you a return. If your too hungry than you will lose more. You need a note pad on your desk and you need to write down your thoughts and observations than re-read your journal over the weekend. If it makes no sense than you will know why.

b) Strategies, are dime a dozen. Your best strategy is managing your risk using money management to limit your losses.
Stop overthinking, your not competing with anyone other than yourself. This is electronic trading your order is minuscule at the very least. This is not brain surgery but the risks can be big if you don't use stops.

Hope this helps a bit.

 

In order words, a working strategy would become less profitable when more people start using it?

 

there is huge difference between the pro and the amateur in most things......the gap is enormous or gigantic.
it highlights how difficult it is to make money or make someone give money to you

 

in theory that is correct
because if everyone wants to buy then the seller will be at a high price.

but, in practice, in today's variety of markets , a multitude of which are highly liquid and,some more are sufficiently liquid,how likely is it for 2 traders,or even 50000 traders, using the same strategy, will end up trading, in the same instrument and in the same time frame ,in the same market,with the same time horizon for taking their profit?
i think that is a rhetorical question....but what do you think?

 

Practically poetic. See post 'What info does TA tell you' reply #22

 

Green follows green 70% of the time, so trade micro trends in the direction of the longer time frame.

 

"This type of thinking is totally incorrect", Its the quantity of orders" at or near a given point that cause the start of a tipping point. This than will wake up and startle the herd, than price starts to follow. Just look at your DOM and start adding and subtracting. It wont be totally correct, because of the fake Bids or offers but it will help clear the fog. Let me know If you hear the fog horn

 

the million dollar question is for how long the herd follows

 

So you want to engineer this process? Your into this for a book deal like Bollinger maybe? keep learning and wasting your time, after all its not Money lost, its just opportunities lost-$. You cant add what you don't collect.

 

Do you remember the January effect? Mostly gone by now, maybe still there in emerging market?