The False Certainty Loop: Why Crypto Traders Need Mystical Spiritual Support

In the sleepless nights of the crypto market, people are searching for answers. Technical analysis cannot provide certainty, fundamental analysis is too complex, and macro policies are too distant. But metaphysics is different — it offers a concise and powerful explanatory framework that allows traders to face uncontrollable market volatility.

The “Life K-line” app launched on December 13 verified this: its first tweet received over 3.3 million views, and API calls exceeded 300,000 within three days. Enter your birth date, and AI generates a K-line chart from age 1 to 100 based on your birth chart. Thousands of users began comparing their life curves with actual experiences, amazed at the degree of coincidence.

Behind this phenomenon is the collective psychological need for mental support among traders.

Market Uncertainty Creates an Anxiety Vacuum

The crypto market is inherently a cradle of anxiety.

24/7 trading, no circuit breakers, sudden surges and crashes can happen in an instant. A single tweet from a big influencer can wipe out hundreds of millions of dollars in market cap, and well-packaged projects’ founders can disappear overnight. Traders are constantly facing “unknown risks.”

Economist Frank Knight in 1921 distinguished two concepts: risk, which can be quantified as probabilities, and uncertainty, which is unquantifiable unknowns. Humans are naturally fearful of uncertainty. When risks cannot be measured numerically, the brain instinctively creates “false certainty” to ease anxiety.

Metaphysics is the perfect vehicle for this psychological mechanism.

When the market direction is unclear, opening the “Today’s Trading Calendar” can give you a clear signal. Crypto astrologer @AstroCryptoGuru, with 510,000 followers, makes predictions based on Bitcoin’s “birth chart” (genesis block time on January 3, 2009): Saturn signals correspond to a bear market, Jupiter signals to a bull market top. This analyst claims to have successfully predicted the December 2017 bull market peak, the 2022 bear market, and the 2024 BTC stage high.

Specific dates and celestial events are linked, giving traders a clear “waiting signal” — even if it comes from outer space. “Mercury retrograde not to open positions,” “Full moon will cause a plunge,” “Birth chart shows a bull market next year” — these judgments require no complex technical analysis or reading obscure whitepapers, just belief in “destiny.”

A 2006 study from the University of Michigan found that stock markets in 48 countries had 6.6% lower returns during full moons compared to new moons. But it’s not the moon truly influencing the market; it’s collective superstition affecting traders’ behavior — when enough people believe “full moon will cause a crash,” they sell in advance, and the crash actually happens.

In the crypto market, especially during bear markets, all fundamental analysis and value investing arguments seem powerless, making metaphysical analysis appear more “reliable.” Traders need metaphysics, not because it’s highly accurate, but because it provides an explanation — even if false — that’s easier to accept than facing unpredictable uncertainty.

How Cognitive Biases Self-Reinforce

The reason metaphysics remains popular in crypto circles is that it “seems really useful” — not because it’s accurate, but because cognitive biases in the brain reinforce it endlessly.

The most typical mechanism is confirmation bias. When you believe “full moon will cause a crash,” you remember all cases of crashes after full moons, while ignoring days of rallies or sideways movement during full moons. When your “Life K-line” shows this year entering a bull cycle, you attribute every small rise to “chart validation,” while explaining large corrections as “short-term technical retracements that don’t affect the big trend.”

Crypto social media amplifies this bias many times over.

Tweets like “I went long ETH based on Tarot card readings, made 20% in three days!” are likely to be widely shared, liked, and screenshot. But traders who lose money based on Tarot signals won’t post, and their losses go unseen. The information flow in the community becomes filled with metaphysical validation cases, while failures are automatically filtered out.

In March this year, analyst @ChartingGuy’s blood moon prediction was a typical example. Regardless of subsequent market rises or falls, the prediction leaves room for interpretation: “Top early,” “Delayed validation,” “Needs other planetary aspects.” If Bitcoin indeed retraced during that period, this tweet would be repeatedly cited as a “divine prediction.”

When BTC crashes, traders desperately need a reason. Technical analysis says “breaks support,” macro analysis says “Japan raises interest rates” — but these explanations are too complex and uncertain. Metaphysics offers a simple answer: “Saturn retrograde, crypto enters a bear cycle.” This explanation requires no deep understanding of market data, policies, or fundamentals — just belief that celestial movements influence markets. It spreads rapidly and becomes consensus.

More importantly, metaphysics is falsifiable in principle. If a master says “don’t trade during Mercury retrograde,” and you lose money, it’s because you didn’t heed the advice; if you profit, it’s because your birth chart was special, suitable for contrarian trading. Tarot cards showing recent volatility, whether up or down, are all considered “validation.” This characteristic — that any explanation can be justified — makes metaphysics invincible in crypto trading.

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

Metaphysics as Social Currency and Ritual

The third dimension of metaphysics’ popularity in crypto communities is that it has evolved into a form of social currency.

Discussing technical analysis invites disagreement; discussing metaphysics has no right or wrong, only resonance. The question “Is your life K-line accurate?” is widely discussed not because everyone truly believes, but because it’s a topic anyone can participate in — no professional threshold, no deep knowledge required.

A convincing example is that the community repeatedly requested platform features for “fortune-telling,” which were eventually implemented. People may not rely on it for decision-making, but they desire a shared topic, a daily psychological ritual.

When you say in a trading group, “Mercury retrograde, I’m not opening positions today,” no one questions “that’s unscientific”; instead, someone responds, “Me too, let’s avoid this wave together.” The essence of this interaction is mutual affirmation: our anxiety is reasonable, our worries are not groundless.

A Pew Research survey in 2025 found that 28% of American adults consult astrology, Tarot, or fortune-telling at least once a year. Metaphysics is no longer fringe culture but a widespread psychological need. The crypto community has simply turned this need from “private use” into “public display.”

Legends on Wall Street have also hinted at similar reliance. W.D. Gann, one of the most famous market analysts of the 20th century, combined mysticism with technical analysis, using astrology to predict markets. Soros, in “Financial Alchemy,” admitted he judged market risks based on his back pain — when the market was about to reverse, his back would hurt intensely. But these stories are long-standing legends on Wall Street; few openly admit to using metaphysics to guide trading — privately, they might set up Feng Shui arrangements or wear lucky charms, but never let colleagues know, or they risk being seen as unprofessional.

The crypto industry has broken this taboo. In this inherently mysterious domain, metaphysics seems naturally compatible. Some predict Bitcoin’s future based on birth charts, others decide whether to open positions based on today’s fortunes. Discussions of metaphysics in crypto have increased in recent years, with more people trusting or curious enough to join metaphysical trading. Twitter has also spawned many crypto influencers with personal branding based on metaphysical analysis.

The Ultimate Significance of False Certainty

The explosive popularity of “Life K-line” essentially reveals a truth: our sense of control over the market may be just as fragile as our sense of control over fate.

When your “Life K-line” shows this year as a bear cycle, you won’t actually exit the market. But you’ll blame yourself less for losses, and comfort yourself more when missing opportunities: “It’s not my fault, it’s my birth chart cycle.”

Just as the taboo of the Tianzhu reminds us that not all moments are suitable for action, metaphysics in crypto trading becomes a psychological permission to “pause.” In this 24/7, year-round, highly uncertain market, what we truly want to predict isn’t our life’s trajectory, but a psychological support that allows us to stay at the table.

Metaphysics isn’t the answer; it’s companionship. In a market without authoritative answers, it provides an acceptable narrative framework. This framework may be illusory, but it’s enough to help tens of thousands of traders get through another sleepless night.