20-Apr-2006
Magic of the Markets, by James Sogi

Of course we know it's not magic, but even to an educated person, some of the incantations required to profit in the market take on a mystical aura. The right phrases need to be spoken or written just at the right time, in the right place, with the right conditions in place. The moon needs to be just right, the conditions on the other side of the earth need to be right, the proper ingredients need to have been out in place, with the proper mediums. Much of the work must be performed only in the lonely dark hours of the morning when only creatures of the night lurk about. Whether all, some or none of the ingredients or procedures are critical may not be known. Such alchemical chicanery sets in motion a power set of forces of dark and good which will turn into gold or unleash the evil demons of the underworld on the erstwhile wizard like Mickey in Fantasia's the Sorcerer's Apprentice. Different sorcerers possesses different degrees of mojo and have varying alchemical power or powerful incantations to convert the base elements.

First there are the incantations. "I buy", and with those words, millions are made. But they cannot be said at anytime, only when the moon is in its proper phase, or when the yen has dropped when short. Studying Java requires just the right incantations to be said, words with secret meanings, in just the right order, and chimerical events begin to unfold. Arcane algorithms are needed to decipher the hidden meanings in the markets using arcane and mystical symbols of an ancient and forgotten foreign languages unknown to the lay populace found in ancient texts trigger complex machinations. The sorcerers of the market gaze into liquid crystal balls and see events unfold thousands of miles away and can predict the future! We study ancient and dusty texts from hundreds of years ago to divine the secrets of the forgotten ages. How is this not magic?

Many cloak these antics under the rubric of "science" and math, but as I study them more and more, it becomes clear that even the masters of these dark and arcane arts are not so sure about how they work, and there is some degree of mysticism at work. Exotic, rare and expensive earths and metals are fitted together in fantastic precision as magnetic disk whirl, and electro magnetic pulses whir about.