Originally Posted by
Major von Tempsky
Ok, lets spell it out plainly.
There have been discussions about the place, if any, in share investment of what is called charting.
I have been to a reasonably advanced university level in pure maths, advanced statistics and econometrics, charting as you know it was not deemed to have any merit worth studying nor am I aware of it as a university course in more than an odd isolated case perhaps.
Charting starts from a static position and makes various analyses none of which are useful in a dynamic market of myriad factors and constantly developing news and related variables. Charting is absolutely pointless for predicting the future except in a totally static situation, maybe the Q'ing dynasty in China and even there you had multiple unpredictable weather variations and diseases.
I am not aware of anyone becoming a multi-millionaire through charting as they should have if its claims were true.
Buffett et al are on record as saying they don't use charting. The banks, finance and investment houses don't use it.
Charting is analogous to alternative medicine and to astrology vs astronomy.
When challenged chartists always refuse to make a share prediction that can be quantified. But they always develop, in retrospect, 20 20 vision as to why something happened although they could never discuss it in advance.
Hence I become rather irritated when I see a share topic under the heading "Contact Energy chart", although when you read such threads you see that over time none of the useful discussion is chart based.
So, I reserve my right, nay my duty, to shoot holes in any chart based analysis and any "gurus" attempting to practise the black art in what should be a rational society.