How the Rating is Determined

Factors taken into account when this rating was calculated:

1. The biggest crashes tend to occur when Saturn and Uranus are within orb of a square, conjunction or opposition of each other.

2. The afflictions (squares and oppositions) to Neptune, ruler of the market, as well as any strong afflictions to Saturn, Uranus, Pluto and Mars.

3. Whether Mercury will go retrograde just before, or the same day as, the Sun-Jupiter opposition.

4. Whether the opposition occurs in years which are somewhat peevish, a little neurotic, evasive or contradictory. (e.g. Cat, Goat, Rooster)

5. If the year is dominated by the negative magnetic pole (Yang), for e.g. 1986 was Positive (Yin) Fire, 1987 was Negative (Yang) Fire. In other words, we can expect the worst falls to occur in ODD years, e.g. 1929, 1931, 1933... 1987, 1989, 2001, 2009..

6. Whether the nature of the zodiacal sign governing the month of the opposition aggravates the jitteryness of the year. For example, in October 1987, the Sun was in Libra. This added the Libran vacillation and indecisiveness (the "scales") to an already unstable year, the year of the Negative Fire Cat. All the more if the Chinese zodiacal year contradicts itself, e.g. a Metal Cat, a tough cat that flees!

7. Whether large planets form close, bad aspects to one another or smaller planets. For example, the crash of 16 October 1989 had Jupiter opposing the conjunction of Saturn and Neptune.