A quick search for technical analysis will show you all the negative stories about this strategy and why it doesn’t work. You’ll even find several more backing up these stories and giving out some reasons why they aren’t useful for trading. But what’s the truth behind all of these claims about technical analysis?
Technical analysis isn’t a joke; it’s something that you can really use to make quick, small profits from trades. Some people lost a lot of money from using this discipline because of misconceptions about it. However, there is also an equal number of people who have made their fortunes from it.
Of course, there are several factors that we need to look at to determine whether TA is real and legit. We’ll go through all of them in great detail to understand how this strategy can help you with your trades.
IMPORTANT SIDENOTE: I surveyed 1500+ traders to understand how social trading impacted their trading outcomes. The results shocked my belief system! Read my latest article: ‘Exploring Social Trading: Community, Profit, and Collaboration’ for my in-depth findings through the data collected from this survey!
Table of Contents
Technical Analysis Is Flawed
When a new trader uses technical analysis and loses money, they often conclude that technical analysis is flawed or technical analysis is a joke. Well, we can’t blame them because TA has gained so much popularity over the years that there are thousands of courses that teach how to use it for guaranteed profits.
Aside from that, most of these online courses were made by people who failed in the market using technical analysis and capitalized on the temptation of making money with very little work.
There are a lot of things that you can get from using technical analysis, but making great profits with minimal effort isn’t one of them. Traders expecting these results aren’t different from someone who goes to a casino, hoping to make a fortune overnight.
The truth about using technical analysis is that it requires experience, discipline, and patience to execute profitable trades. Experienced traders who’ve seen great results with TA are making quick, small profits consistently.
Legit Trading Bots Using Technical Analysis
I’ve also seen people asking this question: if technical analysis really works when humans use them, why are bots not producing better results? After all, they can monitor the market 24/7, there’s no room for mathematical error, and they don’t decide based on emotions, right?
The first thing that you need to understand with TA is that it’s not an exact science. Although it uses past performance data to formulate actionable trades or predict an instrument’s future price, it rarely works in giving you the exact numbers.
Experienced traders who are making great money with this strategy know that it works well with a configured setup, such as the range of expected price — and profit — and stop loss to prevent further losses from their positions.
Another reason why we can’t find trading bots that work well is that trading depends on the traders and investors. Your goal as a trader is to spot chart patterns that have the potential to be profitable before anyone else sees them. If someone successfully created a trading bot that uses technical analysis to perform trades, it wouldn’t be for sale because it defeats the purpose of using TA.
There are trading bots, and many of them are successfully making money. But none of them is available for general use because it’s their trade secret. No one will sell their secret for a few bucks to create more competition. Unless, of course, they are analysts or traders who are preying on newer traders wanting to try making money from trading.
But just to prove that trading bots do exist, Knight Capital, one of the largest market makers, was using a computer program to perform trades. However, on August 1, 2012, this program went haywire, trading millions of shares in over a hundred different stocks. The glitch only lasted for about 45 minutes, but it cost the company $440 billion!
Traders Using Technical Analysis Incorrectly
Now, the question is: if technical analysis is legit or something that you can really use to make profitable trades, why are there a lot of people who are losing money using it?
The quick answer is because technical analysis is flawed, and most newer traders aren’t even aware of it. This trading strategy isn’t 100% accurate, but many people think they can use it to make large profits with minimal work due to the myths surrounding it.
Technical Analysis Won’t Give You Quick and Easy Profits
Many traders made their first money in trading by using simple technical indicators. It’s also what online courses and ready-made programs use to get people to pay for their platforms.
However, traders need to realize that successful traders — people who make consistent profits with technical analysis — have the following:
- Discipline
- Patience
- Conscientious
- Continuous in-depth learning
- Money management skills
These traits may take years to develop, and successful traders know that these aren’t the only things they need for continuous profits.
Technical Analysis Isn’t About Winning More Trades
Many people think that using technical analysis will help them win more trades. After all, it’s nice to win 5 trades versus just 1, right? The truth is that you don’t really need to use technical analysis to win more trades; what you need is to use this strategy to analyze your risk/reward ratio to make more money.
Here’s an example of technical analysis in action to help you better understand:
- John uses technical analysis to enter 8 positions. He made $10 each on 5 trades but lost $5 each on the other 3. His total profit is $15.
- Peter uses technical analysis to assess the risk/reward ratio and only got into 3 trades. He made $15 each on 2 trades and lost $5 on one trade. His net profit is $25.
It’s an oversimplified example, but it shows you how easy it is to fall prey to believing that winning more trades is better. But the truth is that using technical analysis will only make it easier for you to take a closer look at market performance and find fewer, more profitable positions.
Can You Really Make Money With Technical Analysis?
You may have already picked it up by now: you can make money with technical analysis. Market Wizards: Interviews With Top Traders by Jack D. Schwager has a huge list of traders who solely use technical analysis for trading, and they make great profits from it.
It’s easy to believe that technical analysis doesn’t work because those who lost a lot of money using it will be very vocal about it. However, if you dig deeper, you’ll find that even more people are finding great success with technical analysis — they’re just less keen on talking about it.
There are two sides to every trading strategy — the winning and losing side. It’s important to understand both of them because these stories will help you understand what you should and shouldn’t do when using technical analysis — or any trading strategy.
What’s important is for you to know that technical analysis is real and can really help you make money. It’s just a matter of understanding how you can use it for your trades.
Author’s Recommendations: Top Trading and Investment Resources To Consider
Before concluding this article, I wanted to share few trading and investment resources that I have vetted, with the help of 50+ consistently profitable traders, for you. I am confident that you will greatly benefit in your trading journey by considering one or more of these resources.
- Roadmap to Becoming a Consistently Profitable Trader: I surveyed 5000+ traders (and interviewed 50+ profitable traders) to create the best possible step by step trading guide for you. Read my article: ‘7 Proven Steps To Profitable Trading’ to learn about my findings from surveying 5000+ traders, and to learn how these learnings can be leveraged to your advantage.
- Best Broker For Trading Success: I reviewed 15+ brokers and discussed my findings with 50+ consistently profitable traders. Post all that assessment, the best all round broker that our collective minds picked was M1 Finance. If you are looking to open a brokerage account, choose M1 Finance. You just cannot go wrong with it! Click Here To Sign Up for M1 Finance Today!
- Best Trading Courses You Can Take For Free (or at extremely low cost): I reviewed 30+ trading courses to recommend you the best resource, and found Trading Strategies in Emerging Markets Specialization on Coursera to beat every other course on the market. Plus, if you complete this course within 7 days, it will cost you nothing and will be absolutely free! Click Here To Sign Up Today! (If you don’t find this course valuable, you can cancel anytime within the 7 days trial period and pay nothing.)
- Best Passive Investment Platform For Exponential (Potentially) Returns: By enabling passive investments into a Bitcoin ETF, Acorns gives you the best opportunity to make exponential returns on your passive investments. Plus, Acorns is currently offering a $15 bonus for simply singing up to their platform – so that is one opportunity you don’t want to miss! (assuming you are interested in this platform). Click Here To Get $15 Bonus By Signing Up For Acorns Today! (It will take you less than 5 mins to sign up, and it is totally worth it.)
Conclusion
Technical analysis works, but it’s not 100% accurate, and not everyone who uses this strategy will make money. In fact, there are even some who lost huge amounts before they start to understand how technical analysis really works and how they can use it for their trades.
But if you’re wondering whether it’s real and legit, the answer is yes. All you have to do is understand what it can really do and not fall prey to the myths around it. Keep learning and use technical analysis as a guide to help you formulate better trades.
BEFORE YOU GO: Don’t forget to check out my latest article – ‘Exploring Social Trading: Community, Profit, and Collaboration’. I surveyed 1500+ traders to identify the impact social trading can have on your trading performance, and shared all my findings in this article. No matter where you are in your trading journey today, I am confident that you will find this article helpful!
Affiliate Disclosure: We participate in several affiliate programs and may be compensated if you make a purchase using our referral link, at no additional cost to you. You can, however, trust the integrity of our recommendation. Affiliate programs exist even for products that we are not recommending. We only choose to recommend you the products that we actually believe in.
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