Technical analysis is the study of price action and volume — nothing else. The technician's bet is that recurring patterns of human behavior leave footprints on the chart, and that disciplined reading of those footprints can produce a small but exploitable edge. What TA actually claims is narrow.

It does not claim a chart predicts the future. It claims that, on average, certain configurations have been followed by certain kinds of price behavior often enough to matter — provided you size positions correctly and respect what you do not know. Every other promise made in the name of TA is marketing.

1) Price discounts everything — fundamentals, sentiment, news, even insider knowledge eventually show up in price. 2) Prices move in trends — once a trend is established, it is somewhat more likely to continue than to reverse. 3) History rhymes — human emotions repeat, so chart patterns repeat.