Identification through technical analysis: A study of charting and UK non-professional investors

Philip John Roscoe; Carole Howorth

doi:10.1016/j.aos.2008.05.003

Identification through technical analysis: A study of charting and UK non-professional investors

Philip John Roscoe, Carole Howorth

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

27 Citations (Scopus)

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Abstract

The usefulness of technical analysis, or charting, has been questioned because it flies in the face of the 'random walk' and tests present conflicting results. We examine chartists' decision-making techniques and derive a taxonomy of charting strategies based on investors' market ontologies and calculative strategies. This distinguishes between trend-seekers and pattern-seekers, and trading as a system or an art. We argue that interpretative activity plays a more important role than previously thought and suggest that charting's main appeal for users lies in its power as a heuristic device regardless of its effectiveness at generating returns.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	206-221
Number of pages	16
Journal	Accounting, Organizations and Society
Volume	34
Issue number	2
Early online date	17 Jul 2008
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aos.2008.05.003
Publication status	Published - Feb 2009

Keywords

Efficient capital-markets
Common-stock investment
Financial-markets
Performativity
Strategies
Economics
Sociology
Exchange

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10.1016/j.aos.2008.05.003

Charting AOS 08 author version
This is the author's version of this work. The published version copyright (c) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. is available from http://www.sciencedirect.com
Accepted author manuscript, 143 KB

Cite this

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KW - Financial-markets

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KW - Strategies

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KW - Sociology

KW - Exchange

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Identification through technical analysis: A study of charting and UK non-professional investors

Abstract

Keywords

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