I am starting this poll because I believe many on this board believe this statement is true. They stare at a chart all day believing they are looking at the "Market" but they fail to realize that the support line they see is only a line it has no relevance in the present moment. Please after you vote voice your opinion!! I have a good story I read in a book or heard from someone I cannot remember which. John was a trader for a couple of years, but could not make any money. He did become an expert at technical analysis. He was lucky enough to land a job as a technical analysis specialist at a prominent clearing firm at the Chicago Board of Trade. One day he is sitting in Clearing Firms office and one of the clearing firms most successful Soybean Traders(local trading his own money) walks in and introduces himself. John informs the Soybean Trader what his role is at the Clearing Firm. Soybean Trader becomes very interested in John's knowledge. For the next hour John describes the different formations and support and resistance lines on todays Soybean chart. After about an hour John describes a support line. The Soybean Trader asks him "So when the market trades at this level it should generate some support and the price should bounce back up or at least hesitate a little". John answers "Yes the daily chart shows this to be a key support ". Soybean Trader looks at John and says " b u l l s h i t". He picks up the phone and calls a broker in the Soybean pit and tells the broker to sell a 100 lot at the market. Beans race right through the support line. Soybean Trader proceeds to tell John that his chart is complete crap and walks out of the room.
Scalper; Well , guess the moral of that story is ; 1] small samples dont mean much, especially 1 timeframe 2]small samples dont mean much , especially applied by a 2 year trader 3] And trend traders may find charts more useful than scalpers Good trading to you ;Wisdom is profitable to direct