TY - JOUR

T1 - Identification through technical analysis : a study of the charting behaviour of UK non-professional investors.

AU - Roscoe, P

AU - Howorth, C A

PY - 2009/2

Y1 - 2009/2

N2 - 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.

AB - 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.

U2 - 10.1016/j.aos.2008.05.003

DO - 10.1016/j.aos.2008.05.003

M3 - Journal article

VL - 34

SP - 206

EP - 221

JO - Accounting, Organizations and Society

JF - Accounting, Organizations and Society

SN - 0361-3682

IS - 2

ER -