TikTok is full of chartists performing technical analysis. Investment banks used to employ them. Robert Edwards’s and John Magee’s Technical Analysis of Stock Trends, a book first released in 1948, is still going strong with its eleventh edition. It is considered by some to be the Bible of the discipline, yet today, an aspiring graduate interview candidate would be advised not to mention having read it.

Institutional certification numbers tell a similar story. The Chartered Market Technician Association, a body dedicated to the art of chart reading, counts about 2,500 active charterholders. Meanwhile, the CFA Institute is a global organisation setting standards for investment professionals; it runs the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA)…