[brockwhittaker]

You're conflating micro and macro price movements. Sure, you can't predict black swan events with technical analysis, but it wouldn't be out of the question to predict short term fluctuations based on a mixture of market psychology and herd thinking.

I don't employ any technical analysis in trading, nor am I a strong advocate, but technical analysis is more about reactionary psychology than about predicting the future. In the most micro sense, the market is dictated by single individuals buying and selling stock, and in the broadest sense, it's a statistical result of millions, or billions of unknowns. Those are two totally different games.

[throwaway743]

To add, it provides a general measure of sentiment. It's a measure of actions taken rather than words. It's not a crystal ball, but does give a slight edge if you figure out which indicators to use.

I've used it for years and had very good success when I was actively trading (traded longer timeframes. Usually made weekly/monthly trades) to the point I was able to live off of it. The last couple of years I've taken off from trading to focus on developing my business, but will likely jump back once that launches and is in a good enough place, as it's both a time and emotional drain.