When Carl Jung mapped the human psyche, he argued that beneath our individuality lurk universal archetypes — shared symbols and stories that shape how we see the world. The Hero, the Trickster, the Shadow.
Markets, strangely enough, have their own archetypes too. Think about it:
- The Eternal Bull — always charging, blind to cliffs.
- The Doom Prophet — forever crying collapse, secretly thrilled when proven right.
- The Trickster — the meme stock, the rug pull, the sudden volatility spike that turns every chart into slapstick comedy.
- The Shadow — the risks we hide from ourselves: correlations, hidden leverage, exposures that only emerge in crisis.
Why does this matter? Because investing isn’t just numbers — it’s theater. These archetypes are roles we play without realizing it. When you pile into a hot IPO, are you the Hero chasing glory? Or are you the Fool, rushing headlong into a Riskquake 🌍⚡?
History proves that archetypes repeat even more reliably than technical patterns. The 1630s tulip mania wasn’t just a bubble — it was the Hero myth, investors convinced they were chosen to ride flowers into fortune. The 2008 crash wasn’t just leverage — it was the Shadow finally stepping into the light.
Here’s the uncomfortable part: you’re in the play, whether you like it or not. Pretending you’re outside the script is the surest way to be blindsided. The real discipline comes not from avoiding archetypes, but from recognizing when you’ve been cast in one — and deciding if you’ll keep reading your lines.
🔗 Want a primer on Jung’s archetypes? The Simply Psychology overview is a great starting point.
🔗 For financial history’s greatest stage acts, Charles Mackay’s Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds (full text online) remains unmatched.
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