if you want to make your money from technical analysis, learn all about it and then write a book and/or train people in technical analysis so they can learn to wriite a book or train other people
technical analysis always works in hindsight and its great for party tricks to show people amazing things on charts - but thats it
and if you are relying on stops as part of your methodology - over time - you will get burned
price, time and volume ( and preferably an arb opportunity!) combined with a solid methodology which could provide returns in 100s per cent per annum and used in a disciplined way is the easiest (only?) way to be succesful
if you are trading a methodology which can only make 20 or 30 percent per annum on your trading and you take a 20 or 30 per cent hit - by logic, at best, its gonna take you a year to get back to base
and then your return in the next year is only going to be 10% as you need to make up for your loss year, and your back to break even year
and of course bear in mind that your money base took a 30 percent hit and therefore your returns end up being based on only 70 percent of your money so in fact your potential 30 percent return is now gonna be based on that substantially lower amount
when markets have consolidated at a base, run in narrow ranges and break to the upside with an upside trend - a lot of new different "experts" appear in trading with solid belief and proof of their trading skills - but they all disapear when volatilty hits extremes, and/or markets start breaking down - and then they always give back more than they made
if you are just trading a nest egg for fun in small size, trading is your hobby and u dpnt mind taking losses to make a small possible return - thats another thing and not trading - but real trading is hard work and at the minimum you would want to be making 100K plus - with a regular daily or monthly payout, and so its at least worth thinking about these points as you consider your trading methodology and objectives
i have not spent time working out a bullet proof reasoned argument on the above so dont want to get into a debate about it with anyone who is a hobbysist, learner or part time trader - its just meant to give u something to think about - if it sounds crap - just bin it from your mind
but, if you already get all this and feel you are close, but not there with a successful methodology - let me know - maybe i can help