Traders generally read a market one of two ways โ and understanding the real difference between them changes how you interpret everything else you'll learn about trading.
Technical analysis โ reading the chart itself
Technical analysis studies price action directly โ support and resistance, chart patterns, candlesticks, structure. The core idea: price already reflects everything the market currently knows, so studying how price has actually behaved is enough to make informed decisions, without needing to separately track the news driving it.
This is the primary lens this site teaches, and it's SonaPips' own core approach โ reading what price is actually doing, not predicting it from outside factors.
Fundamental analysis โ reading what's driving the market
Fundamental analysis looks at the real-world forces behind price moves โ interest rate decisions, employment data (like NFP), inflation reports (CPI), central bank policy, and geopolitical events. The core idea here: price moves because of real economic and political reality, so understanding that reality lets you anticipate moves before they show up on a chart.
Neither one is "correct" โ they answer different questions
Technical analysis answers "what is price actually doing right now, and where might it react." Fundamental analysis answers "why would price move at all, and in which direction." Most experienced traders use both, even if one is their primary lens โ fundamentals often explain why a technical level held or broke, and technicals often show when a fundamental view actually starts playing out in real price action.
Why this matters even if you focus on technicals
Even a purely technical trader benefits from knowing when high-impact fundamental events are scheduled โ an Economic Calendar tracks exactly this. A technically clean setup can still get overwhelmed by a major news release, not because the technical read was wrong, but because a large enough fundamental shock can move price through levels that would otherwise have held.
The honest tradeoff
Fundamental analysis requires tracking a genuinely wide range of ongoing information โ interest rate schedules, economic releases, central bank commentary โ and interpreting it correctly, which takes real, ongoing effort. Technical analysis requires reading price structure correctly, which takes real practice but doesn't require tracking external events continuously.
Neither is easier overall โ they just require different kinds of ongoing attention.
SonaPips' own approach leans technical โ reading whether a real move actually holds on the higher timeframe โ while still factoring in real news context, like flagging high-impact events that could disrupt an otherwise clean technical setup.