Metastock could back test any system twenty years ago. Even back testing does not work as well as one might think, simply because the market changes frequently. I have had systems that were as simple as one particular stock at one particular time of day makes a predictable movement. And it worked.. until it didnt. No system works forever, or else one guy would have all the money. When it stops working, then it is time to write a book about it and start selling newsletters.
I believe in charts as much as anyone, but they are a lagging indicator. Any calculation that uses price will be lagging. Traders in the 1920's traded off ticker tape machines; there were no computer screens. But it is still the same information. Like a chess master can play blindfolded, a trader can trade without a chart and still make decisions based on price action.
Chart or no chart, human crowd emotion often follows predictable patterns, and those patterns are inherent in group psychology. Until computers make 100% of trading decisions on their own, I don't think that will change. And one of those patterns is always denial by market participants whose account is in the red, yet insist they are correct. When I traded company money, I would have been fired for such behavior immediately. That's amateur hour stuff; professionals don't get the luxury of justifying losses; they get fired first.
