After reading a dozen books on value investing and following the market for five years, I still can't decide if technical analysis is mostly noise or a real edge. My own tests show moving averages lag too much to catch big moves, but I've watched traders swear by volume patterns that seemed to anticipate earnings surprises. Maybe the truth is that it works for some people because they combine it with fundamental research, not because the charts alone predict anything. Do you think retail investors should spend weeks learning candlestick patterns, or is that time better spent on reading financial statements and understanding business moats?