PM8 Chart., page-101

In my humble view, and without trying to ignite a war of words, there is absolutely a place for technical analysis in financial markets. To think otherwise is to ignore the activity of a large percentage of market participants i.e. professional traders who look no further than numbers on a screen without regard for company fundamentals. Sure, TA is conducted in myriad forms from the sublime to the downright esoteric (tea leaves, shaman bones etc), but when practiced skillfully, it's usefulness in analysing past events to predict future price/volume action cannot be understated. There's a bit of artistry to it, some intuition and a lot of number crunching!

On a different topic, the herd mentality phenomenon in financial markets is what creates opportunity for the contrarian investor who buys when everyone else is selling and vice versa. We need the 'weak hands' to panic sell when macroeconomic clouds roll in to tighten the register!