The Cruel Irony of Trading Techniques and Trading Systems

Professional traders already have the knowledge and experience to know which trading techniques and trading systems could be profitable and which trading techniques and trading systems should be avoided, but professional traders are not looking for a new trading technique or trading system (because they are already trading correctly). New traders do not have the knowledge and experience to know which trading techniques and trading systems could be profitable and which trading techniques and trading systems should be avoided, and new traders are exactly the traders who are looking for a new trading technique or trading system (and even worse new traders are often still looking for the holy grail of trading).
How to Determine Which Trading Techniques and Trading Systems Should be Avoided

Trading techniques and trading systems are the methods by which traders perform their market analysis and make their trading decisions (e.g. when to buy and when to sell). Trading techniques are usually used by discretionary traders, and consist of a procedure for determining when and where to make a trade. Trading systems are usually used by system traders, and consist of a set of rules that determine when and where to make a trade. Trading techniques and trading systems come in an endless variety of shapes and sizes, but most trading techniques and trading systems are complete and utter rubbish.
Without the knowledge and experience to determine which trading techniques and trading systems should be avoided, doing so would seem like an impossible task, but the following is some advice that should help new traders avoid choosing a trading technique or trading system that is nothing more than a trading gimmick

Trading Techniques and Trading Systems with Ridiculous Names

Trading techniques and trading systems with ridiculous (i.e. funny, obscure, dramatic) names should always be avoided, because they are so named purely for marketing purposes, not because the name makes them a good trading technique or trading system.

For example, a trading system with a name like "Foolproof Market Predictor Plus" will be one of the worst trading systems ever created, and while it may be a foolproof trading system (as in it will be very easy to follow), it will certainly not be a market predictor, and its use will result in a minus being applied to your trading account rather than a plus.

Trading Techniques and Trading Systems that Only Make Long Trades

Trading techniques and trading systems that only make long trades (or only make short trades, but this is not usually the case) should always be avoided, because even if they are based upon sound theory (which is highly unlikely), they would still only be profitable when the financial market being traded is moving in the appropriate direction (i.e. upwards for a trading technique or trading system that only made long trades, and downwards for a trading technique or trading system that only made short trades).

For example, it is often the case that a trading system that only makes long trades will be marketed using spectacular results, but upon closer inspection the purported spectacular results will only have been so because the financial market being traded happened to be in the middle of the strongest bullish market in its entire history. If the same trading system was traded during a combination of a bullish and bearish market, or in a bearish market, the spectacular results would quickly become unspectacular results (or rather spectacular in the opposite direction).

Packaged Trading Techniques or Trading Systems

Trading techniques and trading systems that are sold as a packaged system (meaning that the basis for the trading technique or trading system is unknown or incomplete) should always be avoided, because the basis for the trading technique or trading system could be based upon anything (quite literally, even random trades).

For example, even if a packaged trading technique or trading system is marketed using profitable results, the profitable results could be based upon an obscure combination of events that happened to exist during a very specific time (e.g. a particular company releasing specific economic data during the second week of March five years ago), and has never existed before that time, and will never exist again after that time.

Obvious Gimmicks

It should go without saying that any trading technique or trading system that is an obvious gimmick should always be avoided, because ... well, because the trading technique or trading system is an obvious gimmick.

For example, a trading system that had a ridiculous name, and that was based upon made up technical indicators, and that recommended not even looking at a chart of the market price movement, would be an obvious gimmick that was designed purely to attract unknowing traders, and should therefore be avoided.
Professional Trading Techniques and Trading Systems

Professional trading techniques and trading systems do not have ridiculous names (if they even have a name at all), they do not make trades in only one direction, they are never provided as a packaged mystery trading system, and they are never based upon anything that could be interpreted as a gimmick. Professional trading techniques and trading systems are always based upon the underlying principles of financial market price movement, and professional trading techniques and trading systems are the only method of financial market analysis and trading that have the ability to be consistently profitable (hence the reason that they are used by professional traders).