Trader’s Notebook: S&P 500

9:35 a.m. New York time

What’s happening now? The S&P 500 E-mini futures rose overnight, so far reaching a daily high of 7473.75. The price remains well below the June 15 peak, 7648.75, the high of the rise that began on March 30.

What does it mean? Elliott Wave Theory counts that rise as wave D{-5}, the next-to-last wave within wave 4{-4}, a downward correction that began on October 29, 2025, and which has taken the form of an expanding triangle. Since the June 15 peak, the price has worked its way lower, but not far enough to confirm that wave D{-5} has ended and that the final subwave, declining wave E{-5}, has begun. Nonetheless, that alternative remains a credible possibility.

The charts will retain wave D{-5} as the current wave until its completion is confirmed.

Decision Points. A continued rise would keep wave D{-5} alive and would shift attention back toward the June 15 high, 7648.75. A new high above that level would confirm that wave D{-5} is still underway. A renewed decline would increase the likelihood that wave D{-5} ended on June 15 and that wave E{-5} has begun. A fall below the upper boundary of the expanding triangle would provide operational confirmation of that count.

The Chart. Today’s chart focuses on wave D{-5}, a rising wave within a downward correction that began on October 29, 2025 and that has contained all that has happened in the market since. The blue lines trace the upper and lower boundaries of the wave 4{-4} expanding triangle.

[S&P 500 E-mini futures 9:35 a.m., 1-day bars with volume]

Waves Now Underway

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, 2/11/2016, 1810.10 (up)
  • 3{-1} Minor, 3/23/2020, 2191.36 (up)
  • 1{-2} Minute, 7/31/2025, 6468.50 (down)
  • S&P 500 E-mini futures
  • 5{-3} Minuette 8/1/2025, 6239.50 (up}
  • 4{-4} Subminutte 10/29/2025, 6953.75 (down}
  • D{-5} Micro, 3/30/2026, 6353.25 (up}
  • C{-6} Submicro, 6/11/2026, 7232.25 (up)

Reading the chart. Price movements — waves – – in Elliott Wave Theory 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 pageAnalytical Methodsfor a rundown on where to go for information on Elliott Wave analysis.

By Tim Bovee, Portland, Oregon, June 29, 2026

Disclaimer

Tim Bovee, Private Trader tracks the analysis and trades of a private trader managing his own accounts. The content reflects my interpretation of market structure, including Elliott Wave Theory and related tools.

Nothing in this blog constitutes a recommendation to buy or sell stocks, options, or any other financial instrument, or to pursue any particular strategy. The purpose of this blog is education and entertainment.

No trader is ever 100 percent successful. Trading in stock and options markets involves risk and uncertainty. Each trader must make decisions for his or her own account and accept full responsibility for the outcomes.

Charts and tools are used to support my personal analysis. Any data displayed is illustrative of that analytical process and is not presented as a source of market data for redistribution.

All content onTim Bovee, Private TraderbyTimothy K. Boveeis licensed under aCreative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

License

Based on work atwww.timbovee.com

Leave a comment