Why are crypto traders obsessed with candlestick astrology?

When technical analysis fails and fundamentals are chaotic and unclear, more and more traders are turning to a new remedy—predicting fortunes by staring at candlestick charts.

In mid-December, an app called “Life K-Line” sparked heated discussion in the crypto community. Users only need to input their birth information, and AI will generate a K-line chart from age 1 to 100 based on their birth chart, outlining their life fortune curve with red and green candles. In just three days, website and API traffic exceeded 300,000 calls, and the initial tweet received over 3.3 million views. Even more interestingly, this tool, clearly marked “for entertainment purposes only,” spawned a clone token with the same name within 24 hours of launch.

Why can a fortune-telling tool cause such a stir in the crypto world? Behind it lies a long-standing undercurrent in the trading market—the rise of metaphysics factions—and a collective venting of industry-wide anxiety.

Wall Street’s secret, now a public topic in the crypto circle

In fact, using metaphysics to guide trading is not unique to the crypto world.

Legendary Wall Street analyst W.D. Gann once predicted markets through astrology, and Soros openly admitted in his autobiography that he judged market risks based on back pain severity— the worse his back pain, the more he believed the market would reverse. These stories have long remained in the realm of “legend,” with no one daring to admit publicly. In traditional finance, guiding trading with metaphysics is considered a taboo, capable of destroying a trader’s professional image.

The crypto world has broken this taboo.

In an industry already filled with mystique, metaphysics seems to have found a natural breeding ground. Some speculate on Bitcoin’s next year’s trend based on birth charts, others decide whether to build positions based on daily fortunes. A large number of crypto influencers on Twitter have emerged, discussing various theories from “Mercury retrograde not to open positions” to “Full moon will cause a crash.”

The position of metaphysics is quietly shifting—from a secret weapon of Wall Street to a collective consensus on social media in the crypto community.

Why traders need this “false certainty”

A perfect breeding ground for anxiety

The crypto market is inherently a breeding ground for anxiety.

24/7 trading without circuit breakers, with sudden surges and crashes happening in an instant. A single tweet from a big influencer can cause a cryptocurrency’s market cap to evaporate by billions of dollars overnight, and carefully crafted project founders may run away in the middle of the night. Traders are always under the shadow of “unknown risks.”

Economist Frank Knight pointed out as early as 1921 that the key difference is: risk is quantifiable (like the probability of rolling dice), while uncertainty is an unquantifiable unknown (like whether a black swan will appear tomorrow). Humans are naturally afraid of uncertainty. When risks cannot be quantified, the brain instinctively creates “false certainty” to ease anxiety.

Metaphysics is the perfect vessel for this false certainty.

When lacking a clear trading direction, opening the “Today’s Trading Almanac” at least provides a definite signal. A well-known crypto astrologer claims to have successfully predicted the 2017 bull market peak, the 2022 bear market, and the 2024 Bitcoin high by analyzing Bitcoin’s “birth chart” (January 3, 2009) combined with planetary cycles. This method of tying specific dates to celestial events offers traders a “waiting signal” in times of confusion—even if that signal comes from space.

A 2006 study from the University of Michigan found that stock markets in 48 countries had returns 6.6% lower during full moon periods compared to new moon periods. This isn’t because the moon truly influences markets, but because collective superstition changes traders’ behavior—when enough people believe “full moon causes a crash,” they sell in advance, and the crash actually occurs.

In the crypto world, this collective anxiety amplification is even more intense. Especially in bear markets, fundamental analysis and value investing become jokes, making metaphysical analysis seem “more reliable.”

Traders need metaphysics not because it’s accurate, but because it provides an explanation—even if that explanation is false, it’s easier to accept than endless uncertainty. This psychological reassurance becomes a necessity in high-pressure markets.

Self-reinforcing trap of cognitive bias

Why does metaphysics always “seem effective”?

The answer lies in the self-reinforcing nature of cognitive biases. The most typical is confirmation bias: people who believe “full moon causes a crash” remember all the crash cases after full moons, but ignore days when prices surged or stagnated after full moons. When “Life K-Line” shows this year as a bull market, traders attribute every small rise to “the chart confirming,” and explain dips as “short-term corrections that don’t affect the big trend.”

The social media environment in the crypto community amplifies this bias many times over.

Tweets like “Follow Tarot card signals to long Ethereum contracts, 20% profit in three days!” are widely shared and screenshot. But those who lose money trading based on Tarot cards won’t post or be seen. The entire information flow is filled with cases of metaphysics “being validated,” while failures are ruthlessly filtered out. When Bitcoin crashes, traders desperately need a reason. Technical analysis says “breaks support,” macro analysis says “interest rate hike expectations,” but these explanations are too complex and uncertain. Metaphysics offers a simple, clear answer: “Saturn retrograde, crypto enters a bear market cycle.”

More importantly, the ambiguity of metaphysics ensures it remains undefeated. Masters say don’t trade during Mercury retrograde; if you lose, it’s because you didn’t listen; if you win, it’s because of a special chart. Tarot indicates huge volatility, whether up or down, it’s considered “validation.” This characteristic of “any explanation works” makes metaphysics a perfect “psychological safety net.”

Traders are not superstitious; their brains are just using the most energy-efficient way to process information: remember what’s useful, ignore what’s not, and replace complex analysis with simple explanations. Metaphysics isn’t popular because it’s accurate, but because it always looks accurate.

Metaphysics as a “universal language” in social interaction

The third power of metaphysics in the crypto community is that it becomes a form of social currency.

Discussing technical analysis can lead to disputes, but talking about metaphysics has no right or wrong, only resonance. The reason “Your life K-line is accurate?” is so widely discussed isn’t because everyone truly believes, but because it’s a topic anyone can participate in, with no professional threshold.

In chat groups, someone says “Today Mercury is retrograde, I won’t open new positions,” and no one questions “that’s unscientific,” instead, someone responds “Me too, let’s avoid this wave together.” The essence of this interaction is mutual confirmation: our anxieties are reasonable, we are not alone.

A 2025 survey by Pew Research Center shows that 28% of American adults consult astrology or Tarot at least once a year. Metaphysics is no longer a niche fringe culture but a widespread psychological need. The crypto community simply shifts this need from “private” to “public display.”

In a market without authoritative answers, metaphysics offers not real predictions but companionship.

The final psychological support

The fundamental reason why “Life K-Line” became so popular is that it, in crypto language, expressed the secret in every trader’s heart—the fragility of our sense of control over the market and fate alike.

When you see your “Life K-Line” indicating a bear market this year, you won’t actually liquidate your holdings. But you will blame yourself less for losses, and comfort yourself more when missing out. You tell yourself: “It’s not my fault, it’s my birth chart cycle that’s off.”

In this 24/7, all-year-round, highly uncertain trading environment, what traders truly want to predict isn’t the market trend itself, but a psychological reassurance—an excuse to stay at the table, a way to reconcile with losses.

The popularity of metaphysics in the crypto world fundamentally reflects a collective mindset: when the sense of control is completely lost, even a “fortune-telling tool for entertainment” can become a lighthouse for the soul.