But even if indicators are useless, it is more fun trading with some pretty colors, which will explain price action with hindsight and embellish your chart. Does n't this look convincing, and would not you have told you that price would have to hit these S/R lines prior to the start of the trading day?

There is a nice thread on random lines, which explains how a few horizontal lines may influence our brain.

How can you tell if it will be a trending or choppy day?

So you are saying that a strategy based on indicators is doomed to failure?

The Pareto principle, states, that for many events roughly 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes. This “law of the vital few” is rampantly evident in business and economics, and especially on this forum. This is not to say that the forum is not an important and invaluable tool in the retail trading community. The problem is not with the forum, but with how people use the forum. Big Mike does an incredible job bringing in legitimate experts to perform very informative and professional webinars. Yet, I don’t see any evidence of the fruits of his labors manifested in the posts on the forum. Easily, 80% of the “banter” disseminated by posters on futures.io (formerly BMT) is either mis-information, or of no utilitarian value, and serves no purpose other than to perpetuate the “retail mentality” that pervades this forum. At times it reminds me of the welfare system only with indicators replacing food stamps.

Of course, everybody on this forum is a retail trader, one might answer. That does not mean, however, that you have to think, act, and trade like one. The markets are not easy, and the competition is sophisticated, so don’t think you can compete against the smartest minds using the best technology with a little trend line, a moving average, and textbook cliche. Don’t bring a knife to a gunfight, and expect to come out alive. Please pardon the hypocrisy and the use of the cliche, but most aspiring traders want a strict rule based system, that has a high degree of profitability, little to no risk, minimal capitalization, nor knowledge of the markets required. They want rules they can count upon to make money, now and forever. Wrong approach - retail way to think.

The problem with an overly simplistic trading plan that simply trades one market with one or 2 set-ups, is when volatility dries up in your market, you don’t have others to turn to. When your one or two set-ups stop working, you are back to square one, frantically searching to find others that will work. Because there is not a top-down or bottom-up perspective on markets, there is not a framework or an understanding on how to think about markets. Retail traders are always waiting for some indicator to tell them when to trade and what to do, instead of knowing what they are going to do if the market breaks, and what they are going to do if the market rallies.

They are more interested in being right the market, than in making money, forever placing the emphasis on trading percentage instead of optimal trade management. Or if the are talking about making money, it’s on how they are going to spend it, when they make it big. There is a very salient reason why most retail traders fail; the retail mentality’s approach, attitude, and methodology, is so prohibitive it almost guarantees a low probability of success.

One of my colleagues on the “Spec List” once wrote “It’s possible to train people to perform to a certain level in chess, but if this training does not promote self- education and a philosophical attitude, then the trainees will be little more than performing seals.” Professional traders are looking at the same markets and accessing the same information as retail traders, but they interpret the information differently and implement their ideas in unique ways.

Conversely, the herd mentality is alive and well in the retail world as traders flock to whatever indicator gets the most hits, and whatever mechanical system requires the least amount of edification and practice to “master”, while essentially remaining clueless about the markets, price action, correlations, trade management, etc. The end result is everybody looks at the same things and trades the same way, and we all know what happens when everybody is the same way in the market.. ort...ort.

What can I study to get a grasp on price action?

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Of course, everybody on this forum is a retail trader, one might answer. That does not mean, however, that you have to think, act, and trade like one. The markets are complex, and the competition is sophisticated, so don’t think you can compete against the smartest minds using the best technology with a little trend line, a moving average, and textbook cliche. Don’t bring a knife to a gunfight, and expect to come out alive.
(...)

Not all indicators are created equal; some are very useful ( if used properly), many are worthless. Basing your strategy solely on indicators is a fools errand. It's analogous to rote memorization of material vs. comprehension of material. It is eventually going to catch up to you, and you will be totally unprepared.

One of my colleagues on the “Spec List” once wrote

“Spec List” ?

I think you can download it from the download section. The problem is sometimes the indicator didnt produce any signal but since your ass itches you click buy/sell