Matt is there a good book/textbook on beginner TA that you can suggest? You say you've been reading one haven't you? I'd like to really get into the TA thing, even though I find bitcoin price trends really dominated by news and bubbles which are caused by adoption in certain countries.
I use Martin Pring's 'Technical Analysis Explained'.
Not really for reading through page to page but more as a reference book for as and when chart situations develop. If you are investing in Bitcoin, you definitely need to get into reading technical indicators. I have been fortunate enough in being able to largely 'smell' a general trend out and I am usually correct. My market entry and exit points however, have often been fkn terrible due to a lack of a awareness of TA 101 basics.
For example, having bought 30 BTC at $490, I sold them all for a tidy profit at $550. I looked at a 5K wall on Bitstamp standing in between $550 and $560, and thought, "It's a sell!". However, at the very point that I sold, the 4hr MACD was crossing up the way (I knew about this rule but impulsiveness and negligence often gets the better of me), but yet more significantly, the 4hr PSAR had just switched from signal short, to long position trend. Literally two minutes after I sold, 6K of buying power swallowed that 5K wall on Stamp whole on the tails of Huobi where the move was instigated. Bitcoin double topped at $610. I missed out on the potential for doubling my profits all due to ignorance of school boy TA principles.
If I had known even the little bit of TA that I know now, when I first came as a speculator to Bitcoin in mid-late November 2013, then I am in no doubt that I would have turned 2-3 times more profit than I have done. I wouldn't have made all the stupid shitty little impulsive trades that I also make (which eat into profits) and would have capitalised much much more on my successful trades.
Get yourself a good TA book and learn TA as you trade!