Trader’s Notebook

3:30 p.m. New York time

Half an hour before the closing bell. The S&P 500 futures continued to rise during the session, peaking in the 6030s.

Elliott WaveTheory: The low-degree 5th wave uptrend that began on November 25 continues within the larger 5th wave, three degrees larger, that began on November 19.

9:35 a.m. New York time

What’s happening now? The S&P 500 E-mini futures rose overnigjt, moving beyond the 78.6% Fibonacci retracement level into the 6020s.

What does it mean? Elliott Wave Theory analysis sees a low-degree 4th-wave downward correction that began on at the session open on November 25 as having ended the same day after the closing bell.

The 5th-degree uptrend is now underway.

These are tiny degrees, barely worth a glance except for the most aggressive of day traders. However, when this small 5th wave ends, it will be the end of the parent 5th wave one degree higher and of the grand-parent 3rd wave that began on November 20, a wave of a more useful size for traders.

That 3rd wave is a subwave of the 5th-wave uptrend that began on November 19, whose end will trigger still larger 5th waves that are one to four degrees larger, and a 3rd degree, one more degree larger, that began on August 7.

[S&P 500 E-mini futures at 3:30 p.m., 30-minute bars, with volume]

What are the alternatives? None at present. Typically some will develop.

What does Elliott wave theory say? Here are the waves that underly the analyses.

Principal Analysis:

  • Rising wave 5{0} is underway. It is a wave of Intermediate degree that began in December 2018.
  • It is in its final subwave, wave 5{-1}.
  • Within wave 5{-1}, rising waves 5{-2}, 5{-3} and 5{-4} are underway, as is wave 5{-5}.
  • Wave 5{-5} is in its initial subwave, wave 1{-6}, which in turn is in its middle subwave, wave 3{-7}.
  • Wave 3{-7} is in its final; subwave, uptrending wave 5{-8}.
  • Wave 5{-8} is in its final subwave, wave 5{-9}, which is in its final subwave, uptrending wave 5{-10}.
  • Wave 5{-10} is in its final subwave, wave 5{-11}, which is in its middle subwave, wave 3{-12}, within wave 5{-13}.

Long-term Waves.

These are the waves currently in progress under my principal analysis. Each line on the list shows the wave number, with the subscript in curly brackets, the traditional degree name, the starting date, the starting price of the S&P 500 E-mini futures, and the direction of the wave.

  • S&P 500 Index:
  • 5{+3} Supercycle, 7/8/1932, 4.40 (up)
  • 5{+2} Cycle, 12/9/1974, 60.96 (up)
  • 5{+1} Primary, 3/6/2009, 666.79 (up)
  • 5{0} Intermediate, 12/26/2018, 2346.58 (up)
  • S&P 500 Futures
  • 5{-1} Minor, 10/27/2023, 4127.25 (up)
  • 3{-2} Minute, 10/27/23, 4127.75 (up)
  • 3{-3} Minuette, 10/27/23, 4127.75 (up)
  • 5{-4} Subminuette, 4/18/2024, 4963.50 (up)
  • 5{-5} Micro, 8/5/2024, 5120 (up)
  • 1{-6} Submicro, 8/5/2024, 5120 (up)
  • 3{-7} Minuscule, 8/7/2024, 5182 (up)
  • 5{-8} (unnamed), 9/6/2024, 5394 (up)
  • 5{-9} (unnamed), 10/2/2024, 5724 (up)
  • 5{-10} (unnamed), 11/4/2024, 5824.25 (up)
  • 5{-11} (unnamed), 11/19/2024, 5933 (up)

Reading the chart. Price movements — waves – – in Elliott wave analysis are labeled with numbers within trending waves and letters with corrective waves. The subscripts — numbers in curly brackets — designate the wave’s degree, which, in Elliott wave analysis, means the relative position of a wave within the larger and smaller structures that make up the chart. R.N. Elliott, who in the 1930s developed the form of analysis that bears his name, viewed the chart as a complex structure of smaller waves nested within larger waves, which in turn are nested within still larger waves. In mathematics it’s called a fractal structure, where at every scale the pattern is similar to the others.

Learning and other resources. Elliott wave analysis provides context, not prophecy. As the 20th century semanticist Alfred Korzybski put it in his book Science and Sanity (1933), “The map is not the territory … The only usefulness of a map depends on similarity of structure between the empirical world and the map.” And I would add, in the ever-changing markets, we can judge that similarity of structure only after the fact.

See the menu page Analytical Methods for a rundown on where to go for information on Elliott wave analysis.

By Tim Bovee, Portland, Oregon, November 26, 2024

Disclaimer

Tim Bovee, Private Trader tracks the analysis and trades of a private trader for his own accounts. Nothing in this blog constitutes a recommendation to buy or sell stocks, options or any other financial instrument. The only purpose of this blog is to provide education and entertainment.

No trader is ever 100 percent successful in his or her trades. Trading in the stock and option markets is risky and uncertain. Each trader must make trading decisions for his or her own account, and take responsibility for the consequences.

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Based on a work at www.timbovee.com.