Does Technical Analysis Work?

I saw a post written by kyriacos titled "Why Technical Analysis in Trading is 100% Bullshit". Inspired by this post, I decided to look little deeper. Here are three technical traders who have made it.

1. Peter Brandt

In his twitter account he states that he is a trader of classical charting principles since 1980.
According to his website he has delivered:

• Audited annual ROR: 41.6%
• Average annual ROR (based on VAMI calculations): 77.1%
• Growth of each initial investment of $1,000 to $318,000

2. Marty Schwartz

Martin S. Schwartz (Buzzy) is a Wall Street trader who made his fortune successfully trading stocks, futures and options. According to Curated Alpha, Martin is best known for his repeated entries in the U.S. Trading Championships, a four-month trading championship where contestants begin with $400,000 in trading capital. In nine of the ten championships, his average return was 210 percent non-annualized, making more money than all the other contestants combined.

In the Curated Alpha interview he was asked:

"Did you make a complete transition from fundamental to technical analysis?"

Martin answered:

"Absolutely. I always laugh at people who say, “I’ve never met a rich technician.” I love that! It is such an arrogant, response. I used fundamentals for nine years and got rich as a technician."

3. James Simons 

James Simons is an American mathematician, and hedge fund manager.

In 1982, Simons founded Renaissance Technologies, a private hedge fund investment company based in New York with over $25 billion under management.

According to the company website, Renaissance Technologies is an investment management company dedicated to producing superior returns for its clients and employees by adhering to mathematical and statistical methods.

Simons retired at the end of 2009 as CEO of one of the world's most successful hedge fund companies. Simons' net worth is estimated to be $14 billion.