Perfect Technical Analysis

Technical analysis has been around for as long as there have been organized exchanges, but the futures trading communities didn't accept technical analysis as a viable tool for making money until the late `70s and early `80s. Now nearly every futures trader uses some form of technical analysis. Here`s what the early technical analysts knew that it took the mainstream market community generations to catch on to.

A finite number of futures traders participate in the markets on any given day, week, or month. Many of these futures traders do the same kinds of things over and over in their attempt to make money. These individuals develop behavior patterns, and a group of individuals, interacting with one another on a consistent basis, form collective behavior patterns. These behavior patterns are observable and quantifiable, and they repeat themselves with statistical reliability. Technical analysis is a method that organizes this collective behavior into identifiable patterns. The patterns can give indications of when there is a greater chance of the market moving in one direction or another. In a sense, technical analysis allows you to get into the mind of the market, and anticipate what`s likely to happen next, based on the kind of patterns the market generated in the past.