Market Myths and Mathematical Realities
A Quantitative Analysis of Unscientific Trading Indicators
Luigi Pascal Rondanini
Wall Street loves a good omen. Almost every one of them is noise. This book puts the market’s best-loved indicators on the dissection table and runs the numbers the way they should have been run all along. Some collapse at the first significance test. A stubborn few survive. None deliver the easy money their believers promise.
Publication 8 September 2026 — paperback £34.99 · hardcover £44.99 · ARC paperbacks at £24 · ARC hardcovers at £35.99 (20% off retail) on eBay
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Buy ARC paperback on eBay — £24Publisher ARC hardcover
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Buy ARC hardcover on eBay — £35.99Paperback
Retail paperback · ISBN 978-1-9181771-9-0 · publication 8 September 2026
Hardcover
Retail hardcover · ISBN 978-1-918177-31-2 · publication 8 September 2026
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The indicators on trial
Rigorous enough for the quant, readable enough for the curious investor — a field guide to telling signal from superstition.
Contents
- Preface
- How I Fell Down the Rabbit Hole
- Part I — Foundations
- Introduction — Why Smart People Believe Dumb Things
- The Statistical Toolkit
- Part II — Pure Superstition
- The Super Bowl Indicator
- The Hemline Indicator
- The Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue Indicator
- The Hindenburg Omen
- Part III — Calendar Effects
- The January Effect
- The January Barometer
- The Presidential Election Cycle
- Part IV — The One That Works
- Sell in May and Go Away — The Halloween Indicator
- Part V — Astrology and Lunar Cycles
- Financial Astrology
- Lunar Cycle Trading
- Mercury Retrograde
- Part VI — Sentiment and Contrarian Indicators
- The Santa Claus Rally
- The Magazine Cover Indicator
- The Day of the Week Effect
- Part VII — Understanding and Evaluating Indicators
- Why Market Myths Persist
- How to Evaluate Any New Indicator — A Practical Framework
- The Limits of Prediction