Liked your post especially "If it worked,why would all the chartists be so keen to sign us up for their predictions?"
It is my view that chartists try to get people to sign up for their courses etc so that their charts become self fulfilling prophesies.
It is my view that the winner is the one that pre-empts the chartists and that is difficult and requires much more research than analysis. If a company is good with good management and sound finances then sooner or later it will outperform. All the chartist does is find the good (or bad) companies after the fundamentalists/contrarians.