For all my 5 months in trading, I'm learning only technical analysis but now everyone is talking about the concept of "Smart Money". So I think that trading is changing and speculators should stop trading based on technical analysis. Or smart money just a concept that cannot possibly work in the market,
I will always go with Technical Analysis. You will see it, most professional traders and profitable are technical people, those traders who are technical are smart enough to analyze charts and price actions.
We can't say the smart money is just a concept, for sure it also works but we should just not disregard the technical analysis.
Smart money my foot. I wonder whether those who are behind it don't use technical analysis even if they claim they have access to more resources. There is nothing anyone can compare with the technical analysis, as long as you are conversant with it and you are also a very good chart reader, you get to make your success from it. But one must ensure that they fully know it, and the larger the timeframe, the better in my experience, unless the trader wants to stress himself and still not have anything meaningful to achieve from it. Trading with the technical analysis is also technical itself, one should not use a single strategy for the best results and neither should the person blend the wrong strategies together.
This is why I always advise that no trader should rest until they have devised a new trading system that can give them consistent earnings and the rest of their mind. If this is not done, how possibly would the trader have a good plan, management and even good psychology? That is not possible. For this, it's good to "nip it in the bud" and never rest in training until that dependable system is achieved. In addition, be it news effects, strange market movements, the main sentiment of the market and so on, there is none that is out of the radar of the technical analysis unless the trader is not using the right set of strategies. If used correctly, they will surely know and plan for or against them as the case may be. This is where good management is needed, and since traders cannot win every trade through technical studies, they need to effectively manage their accounts to avoid issues during the flaws time. But never blame the technical analysis for the imperfection, nothing is perfect.