Opening and closing times are part of price and volume data. How can they not be, when we're talking about time series? And discretionary systems are not algorithmic. There is a bright line distinction between discretionary trading and mechanical (aka algorithmic) trading. All of this elementary stuff was covered in the first Wizards book.
Your opinion is important. There are many opinions and most are based on finding something that a specific type can hang his hat on. I'm going to a three day meeting in September where three persons will present their viewpoints. One person has profferred his record for a period of time. I'm sure the attendees can use this as a kind of thing from which to develop opinions. This thread is working out as expected. Now it has become over 10 pages long. However a person uses a systematic way to study the markets, that way will put a limitation on his results. That is what makes your opinion so important. Lets say you grow over the years. Your opinion may come more and more closer to what could benefit you most. One thing I like knowing is that surfer can earn money paid to him from others. It is certainly rewarding to me to know the state of things and how they are so steady and unchanging in the public domain. The need of the OP is also very important. It was interesting to see him stop judging. Donna made several great points about how the losers perform. It will always be true that most people would rather be correct than rich. Does anyone think this thread will encourage someone put up a complete set of criteria for demonstrating that a range of different TA operational systems meet a significant evaluation criteria set? For starters, it looks like the definition of a full time trader is a person who only makes a marginal income by trying as hard as he can. Another is the multiple of the market's capacity which the TA system cannot breach. One thing I like is the length of time that each side stays in any public forum. Why can't those (who cannot use TA) think up something significant to ask? Could it be that their understanding is so limited they cannot participate? I wonder if they have figured out how long a trading profit taking occurs as it happens over time. I like to have the next four trades pretty well lined up relative to the hold I am in, in the Present. None of my views have anything to do with forcasting or predicting. I'm just going to be turning pages in my references.
There is no quid pro quo in the phishing he is continually doing. You are forwarding your skills and talents to a person who has nothing to forward to you.
Surf cannot "see" the "before the fact data" that is there to "see". The "book" is past data. The dynamic of the greatest activity in markets is definitely not the "T&S". One of the "before the fact" data streams is the listing of the turns of the market in advance of those turns. It would probably be a good idea to post a table of the next four upcoming events in the market and keep up dating the table as each one comes into the present frrom the future. If this were done for surf for a few years on an intraday basis; then he might get a glimmer of what you want him to learn. It might be possible for him to then understand that the market has an inherent orderliness. Maybe the table should start more simply and just deal with the upcoming 2 events or just the upcoming three events. Or maybe he could understand this on the basis of slower economic or econometric fractals. A lot of the financial industry operates on differing investment schemes. They all have names. Three popular ones are short term, intermediate term and long term. People have titles in the finacial industry. I like the one called: "financial planners". mostly everyone who uses and pays for this stuff is NOT at their peak in building wealth. So maybe the first TA thing surf might be able to grasp would be "going to the sidelines" at the correct time. He has mentioned that he does have to react to problems that come up for him. This tells me that he is surprised by things he fails to know that are coming his way. For example, take the FOMC announcement. I've posted tons of these as calls. I don't think ET was around before the e minis got invented. But long ago, there were webb locations that carried the calls on the "big contracts". The style of surf ("Ignorance is bliss") is funnier than most people appreciate. There are some really steadfast incorrect people in the financial industry. You can see them testify before Congress and laws are made as a consequence.....LOL.....
Technical analysis is a method of evaluating securities by analyzing statistics generated by market activity. That's the MTA's definition.