You probably didn't see the good TA systems in these testings. I've seen objective testings and real trades that are far better than random. But these systems don't go public. So you will never see their test results. They will go public once they don't perform anymore. They will be sold as a black box for 2999$ with the track record from the period when they performed well. And as they will give lousy returns in the balck box version, they will confirm that TA doesn't work.
What you can say is that you are not well read in the financial industry field. Read Park and Irwin (2004). They are mentioned on page 2 of one of the recent studies you said you did not understand (Batchelor and Ramyar (2006). This problem you have may very well be why you could not interview Derman successfully. Read well what I write to respond to the OP. Do not ask questions if you can help it; you apparently have no undetstanding of trading nor investing to make money.
LOL. If YOU were well read in the field, Jack, you wouldn't have renamed everything to do with your glorious SCT.
Hmm. Let's see. They both tried TA in some misguided form or other (surfer actually went neo gann!) and were not happy with their results. If they were happy, then they would not be shitting on TA in principle. Now they both feel compelled to adopt "complicated formulas not available to the common man or woman." Pipe and ascot sold separately.
Might I point out in my usual humble way, that my journal (Verisimi) using TA is up 101 ES points (1000 YM) YTD compared to your journal (Surf Report) being down -100 YM points. It is either the random distribution of the sample traders or just pure luck on my behalf....
It is threads like this that provide the real entertainment on ET. Posters throwing everything that they have got ( plus a lot of what they are missing) into a competition that has yet again developed into a race to the bottom. Neck and neck they charge in a bid to add un needed acceleration to the fine job that intellectual gravity is already doing. Mods, you should be selling tickets. As always, the competition in the markets comes from a small number of traders who account for most of the volume.
Says the guy that lost 26% in a trading contest the only time he ever went on record and has to live off his girlfriend who unlike him actually works and is quite successful