The Black Swan is a rare, unexpected event with a huge impact that, in hindsight, seems explainable. The term was popularized by Nassim Taleb in his book The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable.
For traders, every correction is, in hindsight, questioned in chatsâwas this the Black Swan? But if you have read the book, you might have highlighted key points for yourself. If not, here are some of mine!
A Black Swan is something that has:
Unpredictability â No one expected its arrival.A massive impact â It radically changes the situation.Hindsight explainability â After the event, people find "logical" reasons for it.
Examples of Black Swans:
The 2008 financial crisis (the collapse of the U.S. housing market).The 9/11 attacks in 2001 (terrorist attacks that changed global politics).The COVID-19 pandemic (a blow to the economy, healthcare, and society).
Remember, post-factum, everyone finds a way to prove that whatever happened was predictable just by looking at the chartâbecause we dropped and filled some gap, took liquidity, or even better, tested one of a million randomly drawn trendlines! But this is all hindsight. Charts are later adjusted to explain an event that, at the time, seemed unimaginable!
Were there any Black Swans in 2023-2024-2025 (current)?
No! A Black Swan is not something everyone sits around expecting!
Some might think Trump's tariff hikes are a Black Swan. But no, absolutely notâTrump's rigid policies could have been predicted well in advance if you paid attention to what he was saying before taking office! The only difference is that few believed him, as people tend to think politiciansâ words are often just empty campaign promises. But that turned out to be wrong.
Meanwhile, Europe is in shock, unsure of what to do. The world is changing rapidly, and it turns out Europe has nothing of its ownâneither economically, nor militarily, nor in terms of resources!
Does every cycle need a Black Swan, after which the market rises from the ashes, flooded with freshly printed dollars, sending all tokens to the moon?
Of course not!
In my opinion, the next Black Swan will be exactly what I have spoken about beforeâthe collapse of markets due to AI! It is hard to explain how this might happen, but I believe a massive AI failure could trigger a stock market crash, leading to a crypto market collapse. This could be the starting point of a bear market and a breakdown of the global uptrend on the weekly timeframe! But these are just my speculations!
The biggest risk is thinking there is no risk!
Iâm sure this sounds familiar! When you think an altcoin has already bottomedâonly for it to drop even further. When you take 2-3x leverageâonly to get liquidated.
Key Lessons:
The biggest source of mistakes is blind faith in past experience!
This is classic for crypto "gurus"! They got into the market by sheer luck, happened to be early, threw $10,000 into this casino in 2018, and pulled out a few million dollars. Then, they built a fanbase by talking about
$BTC ,
$XRP , SOL, and Doge simply because those were the hot topics. And by relying solely on historical charts and patterns, they built their so-called "expertise"!
But this "expertise" was beautifully shattered when it was proven that patterns alone donât work. Some people believe that Bitcoin can never fall below a previous cycleâs high or that every cycle must last exactly 4 yearsânot 3, not 5. There are so many faulty assumptions like this!
If you donât have a strategy that can survive chaos, you donât have a strategy at all!
Itâs crucial to have not just a Plan B, but also a Plan C, D, and E!The desire for control creates an illusion of security.
Stability is not the absence of turmoil but the ability to withstand it.
If this topic interests you, I highly recommend reading the bookâor better yet, listening to the audiobook! The time savings are incredible!
That was my little moment of reflection.
#BlackSwan #CryptoTalks