Before I go off about this or that concept or idea, let's make clear first that none of this is representative of my own trading, let alone my own personal view about the market.
This thread is intended to discuss two fundamentally opposing views:
(1) The market is completely predictable and all you need to do is find the right key to decipher its language. But basically the market will do whatever it plans to do, regardless of any 'external influence' or manipulation. In other words, the path of price is laid out in advance.
(2) The other one is that the market is unpredictable, but not random. Randomness and unpredictability are not the same, but that's topic for another discussion. The second view is what I think most people would adhere to, and it's also what Douglas says in his "5 fundamental truths": on the one hand "anything can happen" and on the other hand "you don't need to know what's going to happen next, in order to make money of it".
Throughout history however, a lot of people have tried to determine what is going to happen next (rather than trade in the moment). Whether or not they were successful and to what extent, is another matter. Everybody knows that from time to time a new method or guru comes along, claiming he has found the secret to the markets.
Some people probably have not given the above much thought. Perhaps because they need not have to, and their trading is doing just fine.
The more time I studied charts, the more I observed that price moved in a very "orderly" fashion... although there are times where I have no idea what the market is going to do, I still make money by following my plan. On other times, the market acts like if it was destined to this or that. But let's not get into anything too esoteric
Thoughts, views, opinions,... all welcome in this thread!