Those who study them have spent years to isolate what cycles are significant and what is regular and what are fleeting etc.
So I can't explain more than to say, there are common recognised cycles and those you may discover on your own, and then it becomes how you balance the conflicting moves of them all.
It is just one aspect of TA and some feel it is most important and others unimportant.
For those who suggest you can throw your charts away, I can't.
If your charts seem meaningless then it is only because your perspective is too myopic.
I hear so many talking about looking back as far as 2002.
If you aren't looking back 100 years then you have no idea of how markets perform.
Why is it that oldtimers aren't rattled by market action. It's because they have been through it many times. You can chose to become an oldtimer before being successful, or study history and know what is possible and the news and societies reactions to events were.
BHP Price at posting:
0.0¢ Sentiment: None Disclosure: Held
A personalised tool to help users track selected stocks. Delivering real-time notifications on price updates, announcements, and performance stats on each to help make informed investment decisions.
(20min delay)