Today’s green candlestick gives the main Elliott wave count the “right look”.
Summary: This may seem counterintuitive to new members, but today’s green candlestick fits the main hourly wave count very well. The S&P normally shows the subdivisions within its third waves very clearly at the daily chart level and this upwards movement looks like a second wave within a strong third wave. Tomorrow may see very strong downwards movement.
To view the last weekly chart click here.
Changes to last analysis are bold.
ELLIOTT WAVE COUNT
Click chart to enlarge.
The S&P has seen a primary degree (or for the bear count below a Super Cycle degree) trend change.
Primary wave 2 was a relatively shallow 0.41 zigzag lasting 12 weeks. Primary wave 4 may be more shallow, most likely to be a flat, combination or triangle, and may be longer lasting than primary wave 2 as these types of sideways corrective structures tend to be more time consuming than zigzags. Primary wave 4 may complete in a total Fibonacci 21 weeks. So far primary wave 4 is in its 15th week, but it may not exhibit a Fibonacci duration because the S&P does not reliably do this. Time estimates may only be taken as a very rough guide.
Primary wave 4 may reach down into the fourth wave of one lesser degree price range from 1,730 to 1,647, but it may not be that deep. It may end only about the 0.236 Fibonacci ratio of primary wave 3 at 1,815.
Within primary wave 4, it may be that intermediate waves (A) and (B) are both complete as three wave structures indicating a flat may be unfolding. Intermediate wave (C) down must be a five wave structure; it looks like it is unfolding as an impulse. For now I will leave this degree as is, but depending on where intermediate wave (C) ends I may move it back down one degree. It is also possible that only minor wave A may be unfolding as a flat correction.
If this impulse does not bring price down to the target range or the lower edge of the big channel on the weekly chart, then it may only be intermediate wave (A) of a bigger flat for primary wave 4. If it does bring price lower to the target range, then it may be primary wave 4 in its entirety.
This wave count now has some confirmation at the daily chart level with a close more than 3% of market value below the long held bull market trend line.
Full and final confirmation would come with:
1. A clear five down on the daily chart.
2. A new low below 1,820.66.
As each condition is met further confidence may be had in the bigger picture for this wave count.
Primary wave 4 may not move into primary wave 1 price territory below 1,370.58. Invalidation of this bull wave count (still bullish at cycle degree) would be confirmation of the bear wave count.
MAIN HOURLY ELLIOTT WAVE COUNT
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At 1,611 minuette wave (iii) would reach 1.618 the length of minuette wave (i). If this target is wrong, then it may not be low enough. Bear markets for the S&P have a tendency to move very fast and have very extended third waves. The next target to use, if price just falls through the first, would be at 1,374, but at this stage that does seem to be rather low.
Draw a base channel about minuette waves (i) and (ii). Along the way down, upwards corrections should find resistance about the upper trend line. The middle of the third wave should have the power to break through support at the lower edge of the channel. If that happens, then the probability of this main hourly wave count would further increase over the alternate.
Minuette wave (iii) may be showing its subdivisions clearly at the daily chart level, a typical tendency of the S&P. Subminuette wave ii is likely to be over here or very soon, and likely to find resistance at or close to the upper edge of the base channel. Subminuette wave ii is a deep 0.51 zigzag.
Subminuette wave ii may not move beyond the start of subminuette wave i above 1,993.48.
ALTERNATE HOURLY ELLIOTT WAVE COUNT
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It remains possible that this upwards movement labelled minute wave iv is a fourth wave because it remains below first wave price territory at 2,052.09. However, there is not enough alternation in depth of correction between minute waves ii and iv. Minute wave ii was deep at 0.83 of minute wave i. Minute wave iv is now also deep, at 0.53 of minute wave iii.
There is a problem with structure here too. Minute wave ii was a double zigzag. Minute wave iv is highly unlikely to be a single or multiple zigzag; there would be inadequate alternation with structure of minute wave ii. Minute wave iv may technically fit as a regular flat correction, because within this upwards movement minuette wave (a) may subdivide as a three on the five minute chart and minuette wave (b) is over 90% the length of minuette wave (a) meeting the rules for a flat correction.
The problem is in the length of minuette wave (c). This would be a regular flat, because minuette wave (b) is less than 110% the length of minuette wave (a), and regular flats normally fit nicely within their channels and normally have C waves which are close to even in length with their A waves. This one is too long to look like a normal regular flat.
Because of these problems, I judge this alternate to still have a lower probability than the main hourly wave count. This is important in figuring out what should happen next. It is less likely that the next wave down will exhibit a slowing of momentum for a fifth wave than it is to exhibit highly explosive movement as the middle of a third wave.
At 1,757 minute wave v would reach equality in length with minute wave iii. Minuette wave (ii) may not move beyond the start of minuette wave (i) above 1,993.48.
This wave count has further reduced in probability today because it is not as common for fifth waves to show their subdivisions clearly at the daily chart level as it is for third waves.
BEAR ELLIOTT WAVE COUNT
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The subdivisions within cycle waves a-b-c are seen in absolutely exactly the same way as primary waves 1-2-3 for the main wave count.
In line with recent Grand Super Cycle wave analysis, I have moved the degree of labelling for the bear wave count all up one degree.
This bear wave count expects a Super Cycle wave (c) to unfold downwards for a few years, and if it is a C wave it may be devastating. It may end well below 666.79.
However, if this wave down is a Super Cycle wave (y), then it may be a time consuming repeat of the last big flat correction with two market crashes within it, equivalent to the DotCom crash and the recent Global Financial Crisis, and it may take another 8-9 years to unfold sideways.
For this bear wave count a big impulse down must begin, so a series of overlapping first and second waves should now be complete. The new idea for the first wave count does not work for this bear wave count.
A new low below 1,370.58 would invalidate the first wave count confirming a huge market crash. Before that price point is passed though, structure should be a strong indication that this bear wave count would be correct. It is supported by regular technical analysis at the monthly chart level.
TECHNICAL ANALYSIS
Click chart to enlarge. Chart courtesy of StockCharts.com.
Monthly Chart: A long held trend line from the end of the big low at 666.79 in March 2009, to the next big swing low at 1,074.77 in October 2011, has been breached and now provides resistance.
Volume has been falling during this bull market spanning six years and five months. This rise in price is not supported by volume, so is suspicious at the monthly chart level.
During the bull market of the last six and a half years, the majority of downwards corrections saw a decline in volume at the monthly chart level as the final low was reached. At this time, there is no decline in volume; the fall in price is supported by a rise in volume at the monthly chart level which indicates the downwards movement is probably not over yet.
Back to November 2014, there is now double negative divergence between price and RSI at the end of this movement. This pattern was last seen just prior to the DotCom crash and the GFC. In both of those instances there was also a failure swing by RSI, which appears here too.
On Balance Volume shows slight negative divergence with price. OBV is coming to touch its long held green trend line. If OBV breaches that trend line, then the regular TA picture will be even more bearish.
At the monthly chart level, this regular technical analysis favours the bear wave count
The last two bear markets for the S&P, that of the Dotcom crash from September 2000, to October 2002, and the Global Financial Crisis from October 2007, to March 2009, were reliably indicated as complete by RSI on the weekly and monthly chart. I will use this indicator this time to see when this bear market could be complete.
As each of those last two bear markets ended, RSI showed oversold on the monthly chart level plus had one divergence with the final month: as price moved lower RSI turned up. That was the end.
So far RSI is nowhere near oversold. There is plenty of room for price to fall.
Click chart to enlarge. Chart courtesy of StockCharts.com.
Daily Chart: Today’s upwards day is again on decreased volume. Volume continues to be absolutely clear: each time price falls volume supports it by increasing, and each time price rises it is not supported by an increase in volume. Volume tells us there is a downwards trend in place.
ADX continues to agree. The black ADX line continues to rise and the red -DX line is above the green +DX line indicating there is a strengthening trend and it is down.
On Balance Volume is bearish while it remains below the green trend line.
A note on Dow Theory: for the bear wave count I would wait for Dow Theory to confirm a huge market crash. So far the industrials and the transportation indices have made new major swing lows, but the S&P500 and Nasdaq have not.
S&P500: 1,820.66
Nasdaq: 4,116.60
DJT: 7,700.49 – this price point was breached.
DJIA: 15,855.12 – this price point was breached.
This analysis is published about 9:04 p.m. EST.
So 1993 is the line in the sand.
if 1993 is broken to the upside then could daily pink circled daily 2 merely be a of 2 with b of 2 being 1900 and c underway now ?
That’s technically possible, but only in that you could make anything you like fit an Elliott wave count if you pay no attention to guidelines and the right look. Because it would see that big strong drop I have labelled minuette (i) on the daily chart as a b wave.
What would be a better technical possibility would be minuette (ii) is not over and would be continuing. The invalidation point for that idea would be at 2,103.47. But again, that has a very low probability. The problem for that idea is it would see minuette (ii) (green) much longer in duration that two second wave corrections one and two degrees higher: minor 2 was over in only three days, minute ii (pink) was over in four days. To see minute (ii) continue it would now be eight days in duration and not yet complete.
That does not have the “right look” at the daily chart level.
It is the proportion of the waves to each other that gives a wave count the right look.
I see two options at the moment:
1. A triangle, with (a) completed at 1993, (b) completed at 1903, and (c) completed today at 1950. Once (d) and (e) complete tomorrow or on Fri, there will be another 100 point plunge (from 1920?).
2. We are in a new uptrend with subwave 1 completed at 1993, and subwave 2 completed at 1903. We are in the early stages of subwave 3.
These are the two viable options I see near term – until next FOMC meeting (9 trading sessions).
Tendency is for gaps to act as magnets for relief rallies. 1972.18 from Monday’s close is probably a good upside target. Will probably get filled today.
I agree. Current price movement seems to target a second wave correction of 0.786 retrace, targeting 1974.13. It would be a much deeper correction than the 0.51 that Lara suggested when looking at yesterday’s data.
I like the triangle idea, that nicely explains the last few days movement. If MACD hovers about zero for the next two trading days and a triangle completes then that would be my wave count.
A fifth wave down should follow.
If there’s a new upwards trend it’s completely unsupported by volume. Like I said at the end of the video for 2nd Sep there’s nothing bullish about the picture at all. If you want to see a first wave complete there you have to resolve how it subdivides, and it just doesn’t fit. There’s a big overlap between the first and fourth waves violating an Elliott wave rule.
Third of a third, of a third, of a third…!!
Maybe…. but I think the excitement is a little premature, there may be a triangle unfolding which would fit the fourth wave alternate idea quite nicely.