STA Blog

Last week we looked at how to organise, spruce up, or Spring clean one’s office.  Now I’ve come across a piece written by an acquaintance of mine which involves doing Feng Shui on your trading desk.  She suggests: ‘Create harmony and peace in your trading environment to support your mind and body and perform with less effort, more joy, and increased motivation to be your best’.  Ha!

With many years of trading experience behind her, the LinkedIn profile goes:

Mercedes Oestermann van Essen: Mentoring for Financial Professionals & Entrepreneurs/ Transformational Guided Meditation/ HOLISTIC Feng Shui/

Like many people who think independently or differently, she comes across as a curve-ball, coming out of the left field, a surprise.  The so too are R. N. Elliott and W.D. Gann considered eccentric by some.  Recently Ms Essen wrote a piece on her website (https://www.thebuddhisttrader.com/) about why Paul Krugman – he who clings to efficient market hypothesis – was wrong.

Her reasoning kicks off with timing, where we will all probably agree that technical analysis has the upper hand and that Mr Krugman does not realise that ‘timing is a mechanism that has been invented by consciousness’.  She adds, ‘those who use Elliott Wave will be aware that cycles are an energy which can be predicted to a degree, but not with certainty because too many factors impact them’.  Similarly Ichimoku cloud theory is underpinned by time and price being inextricably linked.

We then move on to the concept of shifts in consciousness where if ‘the energetic fabric of the entire world changes, conventional assumptions and calculations…have to fail because they are not in line with the underlying laws of the universe.  They also fail to see that we are moving out of the Newtonian age…since science has discovered quantum physics [so] a very different world is unfolding’.  I agree when she says, ‘it is highly relevant to have an insight into the big picture [as otherwise] you cannot possibly know how the smaller dots connect and interrelate’.

Finally: ‘traders and investors can change their minds faster than you can liquidate your positions’.  Too true!