In the markets, does history tend to repeat itself over and over again?

And can past market action provide investors with clues about how trades will unfold in the future?

These questions have plagued investors for decades.

But if this sentiment rings true for you, then perhaps it’s time to introduce a little technical analysis into your trading.

In simple terms, technical analysts believe that human nature is the underlying cause of price moves.

And since human nature is largely unchanged over time, the responses of market participants can be anticipated from what has been seen in the past and recorded on price charts.

What Is Technical Analysis?

Technical analysis is a technique used to evaluate markets or individual securities using only data generated by market activity.

Technical analysts, or technicians, rely on charts or indicators created using price and volume data. Other inputs, such as sentiment data based on surveys of traders to determine their market opinions, can also be used. In the futures markets, additional data is provided by the Commitment of Traders reports and open interest.

We won’t dive into specific technical patterns or indicators today. Instead, we want to provide a broad overview of technical analysis to give you an idea of how it can work for you.

How Traders Use Technical Analysis

​Technical analysis is used to create market forecasts and build trading strategies based on how the market is acting. A technician creates an objective set of rules to analyze price action and minimize the role of their own emotions on trading.

Technical analysts will usually only study what prices are doing rather than analyzing a company’s business and financial statements. Technicians may also ignore economic news. Using only past trading action, technical analysts will evaluate the future potential of an investment.

The chart below offers an example of just some tools a technical analyst could apply to the markets. In very general terms, this chart shows a promising long trade setup. Price is moving higher, and an uptrend is in place. The price action depicted could be considered a triangle consolidation pattern, and traders would be looking for an upside breakout in price.

The pattern offers a price target of $116 a share, representing a potential gain of 17%. A stop-loss could be entered at the lower line in the pattern, near $90, setting the trade’s risk at about 3%.

The indicator in the bottom panel measures the momentum, or speed, of the price move, confirming the price action showing a consolidation. Since the indicator is positive, the odds favor an upside breakout in the pattern. The narrowing of the bands around the indicator, the red and green solid lines in the chart, would lead a technician to believe that an expansion in volatility is possible. This means the breakout from the triangle pattern could be followed by a rapid price move, and traders would want to be ready for that.

Why Technical Analysis Matters

There are many technical analysts actively trading the markets. Price action in stocks often responds as expected at important technical trading points. And applying the rules of technical analysis can offer traders an opportunity to profit.

An additional benefit of technical analysis is that no specialized expertise about a company or sector is required. The technician uses only price charts and does not need to study financial statements or economic reports to develop a trading strategy.

But you do not have to devote yourself entirely to technical pursuits to trade the market successfully. Like many things, it’s probably best to familiarize yourself with these tools, find which works best according to your goals, and adopt them in your overall trading strategy.

Editor’s Note: For market-thumping gains with mitigated risk, we suggest you consider the advice of our colleague Jim Pearce, chief investment strategist of Personal Finance.

Personal Finance, founded in 1974, has helped investors build wealth for nearly 50 years.

Case in point: If you had taken the initial recommendation of Personal Finance to buy Chevron, and held on, you’d be sitting on a whopping return of nearly 3,200% (that’s not a typo).

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