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Opinion
John Authers

Charts, ‘Catharsis’ and the Psychology of Crowds

Trends and behavior toward round numbers matter far more than valuation in this environment. A few pictures tell the tale.

Halting a rally or a crash depends on crowd psychology.

Halting a rally or a crash depends on crowd psychology.

Photographer: Toru Hanai/Bloomberg
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It’s a time to make due deference to market technicians, or chartists as they’re known in Britain. Normally, I find it difficult to take excessive analysis of patterns in market charts too seriously. For a brilliant takedown of their craft, view this video, in my opinion a work of genius, by former colleague Katie Martin.