Beyond this, TA is a sort of a chicken and egg question.
With the start of the great bull market in the mid-1990ies, the Internet also gained acceptance and a shipload of chart analysis programs (some even free) floaded the markets.
According to the Wallstreet Journal, in September 2003, program trading accounted for 40% of
the total trading volume. Which trading programs?
On July 2nd, 2004 the WSJ titled 7/2/04 Program Trading Accounts For 70.5% of NYSE Volume
On that subject, read Alan Newman August 2004 paper Telling Factors(also to be archived here)
It is plausible to speculate that sophisticated what-if programs have a statistical database
of market reactions at specific price levels, completion of patterns, combinations of
indicators/oscillators signals,... which are the most watched.
If this was not the case, and should I have money, I would hire the most competent people ASAP
to have such a program.
So, what we need to find are the charting elements which are most likely not included in the trading programs and see, instrument per instrument, which ones can still be used by the small investor. The answer is simple: as soon as a system starts to work, it will be recognized and stop working.
Rem:
