If stock markets are anything, they're volatile. Fortunes are made and lost daily on what is arguably a game of high-brow roulette. And if that age-old wisdom (buy low, sell high) doesn't even guarantee success, how are we making these financial decisions?

Designer Shing Tat Chung is asking investors to participate in an experiment that employs a rather unorthodox strategy. "The Superstitious Fund Project is a live experiment in which an algorithm trades based on superstitious beliefs. The autonomous algorithm makes decisions based on lunar cycles and numerology, and also develops its own form of superstitious logic, creating lucky and unlucky values that influence its behavior." The fund was built with help and advice from financial professionals, fortune tellers, programmers and lawyers.

144 people from around the world have already invested a total of £4828.88 in the fund, which will return the resulting balance to its investors in a year's time. With all matters financial looking grim at the moment, we're keeping our fingers crossed.

More at Design Interactions 2012.