Astrology and Trading

[Joe Ross]

This question was sent to me from one of our students: "Hey Joe! Is there anything valid about trading markets using astrological forecasts?"

My opinion based on personal experience is that traders should avoid trading markets on astrological fore¬casts or predictions. For every futures buyer there is a sell¬er. To assume astrology has its effects only on specific traders causing them to trade ignorantly and not affect others, makes no sense. Over five hundred scientists paid for a full page ad in the New York Times to state, "astrology is not a science and no predictive value has ever been documented." Astronomy was the first science, astrology the first pseudo science. Does that mean you should trade using astronomy? Only if you think a bunch of Martians may be hot to buy water futures.

I once tried trading by the moon. I went into it deeper by far than did Welles Wilder with his Delta Phenomenon. I charted every phase of the moon, not just new moons and full moons. For awhile, I actually thought I had something. But it turned out to be nothing more than my imagination and deep desire to finally find the holy grail of trading. It’s amazing as to what you can convince yourself is true. Interestingly, I was actually able to convince a whole bunch of other professional traders that I really had something that would work. All too soon, we found out that it was nothing but shooting at the moon with a water pistol.

 

[laptop1]

Hi Joe

There is an article on T2W I read a few weeks back called the moon river, I done some back test on it and it seems to work. W.D.Gann was also a fan of moon cycles, there may be somthing to it.

 

[TheBramble]

Gann was never a 'fan' of any astological/astronomical cycle.

Utter bollox.

Read Gann again. Or give up.

 

[laptop1]

Gann was never a 'fan' of any astological/astronomical cycle.

Utter bollox.

Read Gann again. Or give up.

Wrong

I think you need to read Gann again or give up, Mr Bramble. Gann said that planets affect the markets such as lunar cycles (from new moon to full moon, and back again in passage through the 12 signs of the Zodiac, or 360 degree circle, in each solar year. But Gann studies astrology for enhanced market timing If you new Gann Mr Bramble you would know that.

I should know I studied it for 3 years.

 

[TheBramble]

Let me be a little more gentle with you as you deserve better than that.

Studied it for 3 years have you? Then, you must be a real expert.

Even if you only studied (and I mean really studied) his four published volumes, let alone his hard to get hold of unpublished notes, you'd still be trying to do justice to any one of them after just 3 years.

There's a wonderful quote from George Maclean on those who claim to have studied Gann: "It has to be remembered that for every ten technical analysts who have read one or more of his books, only one has indeed done so".

If you had fully grasped what Gann was about, you wouldn't have stated "W.D.Gann was also a fan of moon cycles...". He was at his wits ends in his attempt to reconcile what he felt were planetary influences on people and therefore the markets right up to the time of his death in June 1955.

'Fan' is not the word. It's like saying Einstein was a 'fan' of Unified Field Theory.

So many traders attempt to squeeze the easy bits, the more understandable bits out of Gann's work, or more likely, somebody else's interpretation of Gann's work, or the bits they 'like' the best. The guy spent his life and virtually his sanity in attempting to put it all into one package, and now days, there are those who choose this and choose that, a fan line here, a grid there, and expect to reap the rewards.

Respectfully laptop1, go read Gann again. Thoroughly.

As an aid and perhaps a starting point for your endeavours, consider what caused Gann so much pain: The markets do not run like clockwork, they do not 'exist' for the entirety of time. The planets move and time moves, but the markets do not. They close. Week-ends, holidays....

Quite useless for short-term (intraday) purposes and the further you get from the origin, the more out of whack your analysis will be. Can't be any other way. Gann knew this. He actually spelt it out for us. For each and every instrument, commodity and trade - there is a specific timeframe in which it will (or wont) work and a specific set of criteria which will tell you in advance whether it will or wont. And it's different almost every time. Which is fine. You just need to calculate it afresh, each time, for every instrument. Your charting package Gann add-on simply is a joke. They all are.

If I seemed (or seem) a little brusque, then merely take it as a sign of benign compassion (love that phrase) masquerading as frustration for those who would otherwise have done their own research and maybe pushed the boundaries of our understanding a little further, but if caught off guard and if accidentally satisfied with the glib, throwaway and often quite erroneous sound bites on works of significance where convenience and speed of use appear more important that depth of understanding, are unlikely to make the effort. In which case, they probably wouldn't have done so anyway.

This comes across as arrogance. But that isn't what it's about. Frustration. Pure frustration.

 

[TheBramble]

Astronomy was the first science, astrology the first pseudo science.

Actually Joe, based on the available historical evidence, there was never any differentiation between what we now term astronomy and astrology.

It has only been in relatively recent times that we've decided to split them up.

That's 'cos we're all so much smarter these days...

 

[hadibamaram]

hello
where can i found a good program for strology ?

 

[KillPhil08]

ebay is a good place to start.

 

[dseb]

hello
where can i found a good program for strology ?

you can try this Swiss Ephemeris for Astro Trading. Transits. Today's Aspects. Declinations. Astrolog Software. Today's Moon Aspects. Astrological Chart. Trine. Square. Conjunction. Daily Aspect. Planets. Full Moon. Heliocentric. Geocentric.

 

[trapped]

Hilarious thread. Thanks for this.

 

[ffsear]

Hilarious thread. Thanks for this.

Why? Fibonacci is derived from nature and used by plenty of traders. Option and futures expiry dates originate from lunar activity if you think about! Its out there, but not crazy imo

 

[tomorton]

Personally I think astrology is a pile of nonsense but I did read in my horoscope that I would learn something useful today..........

 

[trapped]

Why? Fibonacci is derived from nature and used by plenty of traders. Option and futures expiry dates originate from lunar activity if you think about! Its out there, but not crazy imo

Does eating cheese make someone more likely to die of bedsheet entanglement?

Answer (1 of 9): At first, I thought this question was something ridiculous, but I googled “cheese and bedsheet entanglement”, and found why this came up. The great Oracle of Google replied that statistically, those who consume cheese have a much higher rate of dying in their sleep after becoming...

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[ffsear]

Does eating cheese make someone more likely to die of bedsheet entanglement?

Answer (1 of 9): At first, I thought this question was something ridiculous, but I googled “cheese and bedsheet entanglement”, and found why this came up. The great Oracle of Google replied that statistically, those who consume cheese have a much higher rate of dying in their sleep after becoming...

www.quora.com

Yea i've seen that before. It was mentioned on that tv show "Wall street worriers" Its a joke that was actually started in the 1970's by pit/floor traders taking a dig at people that believed in Technical Analysis.

Not many pit traders around anymore!