โ An impulse always subdivides into five waves. โ Wave 1 always subdivides into an impulse or a diagonal. โ Wave 2 always subdivides into a zigzag, flat or combination. โ Wave 2 never moves beyond the start of wave 1. โ Wave 2 always ends in the territory of wave 1, and wave 4 in the territory of wave 3. โ Wave 3 always subdivides into an impulse. โ Wave 3 always moves beyond the end of wave 1. โ Wave 3 is never the shortest wave. โ Wave 4 always subdivides into a zigzag, flat, triangle or combination. โ Wave 4 never moves beyond the start of wave 2. โ The termination point of wave 4 never moves beyond the end of wave 1. โ Wave 5 always subdivides into an impulse or a diagonal. โ Never are waves 1, 3 and 5 all extended.
โ Guidelines
โ Wave 4 will almost always be a different corrective pattern than wave 2. If the second wave is a sharp correction, then the fourth wave will usually be a sideways correction, and vice versa (alternation). โ Wave 2 is usually a sharp correction in the form of a single or multiple zigzag. โ Wave 4 is usually a sideways correction in the form of a flat, triangle, or combination. โ In rare cases, a triangle (one that does not include a new price extreme) in the fourth wave position will take the place of a sharp correction and alternate with another type of sideways pattern in the second wave position. โ Wave 4 typically ends when it is within the price range of subwave four of 3. โ In an impulse wave, wave 4 should significantly break the trend channel formed by the subwaves of wave 3. โ Wave 4 often subdivides the entire impulse into Fibonacci proportion in time and/or price. โ On rare occasions, wave 4 subwaves can enter the territory of wave 1. As a strong guideline, no portion of wave 4 of an impulse wave can enter the price territory of wave 1 or wave 2. โ Second waves of impulse waves would tend to go beyond the previous fourth wave at one lesser degree. โ Sometimes wave 5 does not move beyond the end of wave 3 (in which case it is called a truncation). โ Wave 5 often ends when meeting or slightly exceeding a line drawn from the end of wave 3 that is parallel to the line connecting the ends of waves 2 and 4, on either arithmetic or semilog scale. โ The center of wave 3 almost always has the steepest slope of any equal period within the parent impulse except that sometimes an early portion of wave 1 (the "kickoff") will be steeper. โ Wave 1, 3 or 5 is usually extended. (An extension appears "stretched" because its corrective waves are small compared to its impulse waves. It is substantially longer, and contains larger subdivisions, than the non-extended waves). โ Often, the extended subwave is the same number (1, 3 or 5) as the parent wave. โ Rarely do two subwaves extend, although it is typical for waves 3 and 5 both to extend when they are of Cycle or Supercycle degree and within a fifth wave of one degree higher. โ Wave 1 is the least commonly extended wave. โ If wave 1 of the impulse is the leading diagonal, then one should not expect wave 5 in the form of the ending diagonal. โ When wave 3 is extended, waves 1 and 5 tend to have gains related by equality or the Fibonacci ratio. โ When wave 5 is extended, it is often in Fibonacci proportion to the net travel of waves 1 through 3. โ When wave 1 is extended, it is often in Fibonacci proportion to the net travel of waves 3 through 5. In addition, wave 2 can subdivides the entire impulse into Fibonacci proportion in time and/or price.