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For many years economists,statisticians,and itself, i.e., past patterns of price behavior in indi-
teachers of finance have been interested in vidual securities will tend to recur in the future.
developing and testing models of stock price be- Thus the way to predict stock prices (and, of
havior. One important model that has evolved course, increase one's potential gains) is to de-
from this research is the theory of random walks. velop a familiarity with past patterns of price
This theory casts serious doubt on many other behavior in order to recognize situations of likely
methods for describing and predicting stock price recurrence.
behavior-methods that have considerable popu- Essentially, then, chartist techniques attempt
larityoutside the academicworld. Forexample, we to use knowledge of the past behavior of a price
shall see later that if the random walk theory is an series to predict the probable future behavior of
accurate description of reality, then the various the series. A statistician would characterizesuch
"technical"or "chartist"procedures for predicting techniques as assuming that successive price
stock prices are completely without value. changes in individual securities are dependent.
In general the theory of random walks raises That is, the various chartist theories assume that
challenging questions for anyone who has more the sequenceof price changes priorto any given day
than a passing interest in understanding the be- is importantin predictingthe price change for that
havior of stock prices. Unfortunately, however, day.1
most discussions of the theory have appeared in The techniques of the chartist have always
technical academic journals and in a form which been surroundedby a certaindegree of mysticism,
the non-mathematicianwould usually find incom- however, and as a result most market profession-
prehensible. This articledescribes, brieflyand sim- als have found them suspect. Thus it is probably
ply, the theory of random walks and some of the safe to say that the pure chartist is relatively rare
important issues it raises concerning the work of among stock market analysts. Rather the typical
marketanalysts. To preserve brevity some aspects analyst adheres to a technique known as funda-
of the theory and its implications are omitted. mental analysis or the intrinsicvalue method. The
More complete (and also more technical) discus- assumption of the fundamental analysis approach
sions of the theory of random walks are available is that at any point in time an individual security
elsewhere; hopefully the introduction provided has an intrinsic value (or in the terms of the
here will encourage the reader to examine one of economist, an equilibrium price) which depends
the more rigorous and lengthy works listed at the on the earning potential of the security. The earn-
end of this article. ing potential of the security depends in turn on
such fundamental factors as quality of manage-
COMMON FORPREDICTING
TECHNIQUES ment, outlook for the industry and the economy,
STOCKMARKET
PRICES etc.
In order to put the theory of random walks into Througha carefulstudy of these fundamental
perspective we first discuss, in brief and general factors the analyst should, in principle, be able to
terms, the two approaches to predicting stock determine whether the actual price of a security is
prices that are commonly espoused by market above or below its intrinsic value. If actual prices
professionals. These are (1) "chartist"or "techni- tend to move toward intrinsic values, then at-
cal" theories and (2) the theory of fundamental or tempting to determine the intrinsic value of a
intrinsic value analysis. security is equivalent to making a prediction of its
The basic assumption of all the chartist or future price; and this is the essence of the predic-
technical theories is that history tends to repeat tive procedure implicit in fundamental analysis.
THETHEORY
OF RANDOM
WALKS
Reprintedfrom Financial Analysts Journal (SeptemberlOctober Chartist theories and the theory of fundamental
1965):55-59. analysis are really the province of the market
FOOTNOTES
1. Probablythe best known example of the chartistapproach Random Walk Hypothesis of Stock Market Behavior,"
to predictingstock prices is the Dow Theory. Kyklos,vol. 17 (anuary 1964):1-30.
2. P.H. Cootner, "Stock Prices: Random vs. Systematic 9. S.S. Alexander,"PriceMovementsin SpeculativeMarkets:
Changes," IndustrialManagementReview, vol. 3 (Spring Trends or Random Walks," IndustrialManagement Reviewv,
1962):24-45. vol. 2 (May 1961):7-26and "PriceMovements in Specula-
3. E.F. Fama, "The Behavior of Stock Market Prices," The tive Markets:Trendsor RandomWalks,Number2," Indus-
Journalof Business,vol. 38 Uanuary1965):34-105. trialManagement Review,vol. 5 (Spring 1964):25-46.
4. M.G. Kendall, "The Analysis of EconomicTinmeSeries," 10. Alexander, "Price Movements in Speculative Markets:
Journalof the Royal StatisticalSociety, series A, vol. 96 Trendsor RandomWalks, Number 2."
(1953):11-25. 11. L. Fisherand J.H. Lorie, "Ratesof Returnon Investments
5. A. Moore, "A Statistical Analysis of Common Stock in Common Stocks," TheJournalof Business(January1964):
Prices,"Universtiyof ChicagoGraduateSchoolof Business 1-21.
Dissertation(1962). 12. Fama, "The Behaviorof Stock MarketPrices."
6. Fama, "The Behaviorof Stock MarketPrices." 13. "A Study of Mutual Funds," prepared by the Wharton
7. C.W.J.Grangerand 0. Morgenstern,"SpectralAnalysis of School of Finance and Commerce for the Securities and
New York Stock Market Prices," Kyklos,vol. 16 (January ExchangeCommission.Reportof the Committeeon Inter-
1963):1-27. state and Foreign Commerce. Washington:U.S. Govern-
8. M.D. Godfrey,C.W.J.Granger,and 0. Morgenstern,"The ment PrintingOffice (1962).