Epistemology of Technical AnalysisHow does the reliability of technical analysis relate to our understanding of it as a total population?
Epistemology is a branch of philosophy that examines the nature of knowledge -- its presuppositions and foundations, and its extent and validity. The word epistemology is derived from the ancient Greek epistēmē, meaning "knowledge", and the suffix -logia, meaning "logical discourse." Epistemologists study the nature, origin, and scope of knowledge. Simply stated, epistemology is "meaning-making."
Epistemology presupposes metaphysics. People tend to think of psychology as being the foundation for technical analysis , often without realizing that psychology arises out of, or is a subset of, philosophy. In other words, psychology is "a posteriori" to philosophy. Historically, psychology arose in order to include the empirical method when examining the metaphysical questions posed by philosophy. It has since brought various topics of study to the field of psychology, such as sensation, perception, intelligence, and memory.
At first glance, the relationship between philosophy and psychology seems to have a dualistic nature, and is reciprocal: Modern-day science believes that the "phyisical" (psychology) -- a brain -- creates the metaphyisical, and that the metaphysical (philosophy) -- a thought -- allows us to understand the physical. Phillosophers argue, however, that "no account of knowledge can proceed without assuming that we already have some sample or example of it, or of the way the world works;" If we already know something, then we already have some insight into reality. Similarly, no account of trading analytics can proceed successfully, according to presupposed rules, without some concensus to those rules.
My definition of technical analysis: A concensual set of rules for how to react to market stimuli. We can call TA a language, and it has rules akin to any other language. When we communicate through language, we operate by utilizing a concensual set of rules by which to respond to vocal stimuli. If two people try to communicate an idea to each other via divergent languages, the efficacy of communication is vastly diminished; consequently, if the market is being influenced by people who both DO know and DO NOT know technical analysis, the reliablity of our predictions for market trends is also vastly diminished.
I would argue that the implications of this are stronger this market cycle than ever before, due to the exponential rise in new traders unfamiliar with technical analysis , and that this offset in reliability is proportional to the total trading volume they supply to the market. At the same rate, "whales" who hold the largest crypto bags are likely to be the most familiar with TA, or have those working for them who are adept at TA, and therefore have a significant oppositional influence to those people aforementioned. It makes you wonder how many people have given their economic stimuli to the power elite already bankrolling with their COVID-era monopolies.
Stay safe out there. This is the most risky moment in the history of crypto for those of us with very little we can afford to lose.
