Let’s focus on currency speculators who use technical analysis, either primarily or solely in order to determine their trading in the currency markets. Again, I have found that it surprises some economists that such people exist, not least because it flies in the face of the view that markets are efficient and that pricing is therefore irrelevant. My answer and more importantly the answer of the technically-based currency speculators themselves is that markets are not perfectly efficient, though they are predictable to an extent and technical analysis helps with that. There are a number of schools of thought within technical analysis, such as Elliott Wave, Gann and Fibonacci. A good technically-based currency speculator would use a number of types of technical analysis, not least to test their core view before executing the position. As with other types of currency trading, technical traders can be short or long term in their approach. More generally however, all are looking for trading opportunities using existing market pricing, either for or against the existing trend.