What is the best time frame for a wave count? - WaveBasis (2024)

Elliott Wave analysis works the same way at any time frame, and so does WaveBasis.

So, the time frame(s) that you use for your wave counts is highly dependent on your trading style and objectives, particularly your preferences for trading time horizons (how long you intend to hold a trade). Other important factors to consider are the amount of time a market has been trading and whether or not it is a 24-hour market.

For example, an 8-hour chart wouldn’t make much sense for a US stock since the trading day is less than 8 hours, however, it is not uncommon to analyze 8-hour charts for forex or crypto markets. Further, a montly chart would not include much wave information for a market with a shorter (2-4 years or so) trading history, so a daily or weekly wave count would be more effective in most of these cases. So, there is no single “best” timeframe that works for all markets or all traders.

So, if you like longer-term trades (weeks, months, years), a daily, weekly, or monthly wave count will likely work best for you as a starting point to determine the longer-term wave count context.

If you prefer faster trades (minutes, hours, or days), then starting with a larger timeframe to determine the market context then drilling down to smaller timeframes (5, 15, 30, 60 minutes, etc.) to refine your analysis will tend to give you the best results.

As noted above, regardless of the timeframe that you choose to refine your trade entries and exits, for best results, it is recommended that you begin your analysis with a larger timeframe wave count, which will help to determine the overall context of a particular market. This approach will help you answer important questions such as “are we in a long term correction? or “are we near the top of a long term uptrend?”, for example. Once you have clarity on the larger context, you can work your way down to smaller time frame(s) as desired, according to your specific objectives.

A helpful article on our blog explores multi-timeframe analysis.

What is the best time frame for a wave count? - WaveBasis (2024)

FAQs

What is the best time frame for a wave count? - WaveBasis? ›

So, there is no single “best” timeframe that works for all markets or all traders. So, if you like longer-term trades (weeks, months, years), a daily, weekly, or monthly wave count will likely work best for you as a starting point to determine the longer-term wave count context.

When to start counting Elliott waves? ›

Every wave count analysis should start with a question that you want to know the answer to. For example, if you're just beginning a new analysis and trying to determine the long term context of a market, you might start at the beginning of the most recent longer term rally or decline.

What is the Elliott Wave time cycle? ›

The Elliott Wave Principle is established on a repeating 9-wave cycle. The cycles will exercise the time frames, including five-minute or monthly, weekly, yearly, and any actively traded market, commodity futures, stocks, indexes, and mutual funds.

What is the Elliott Wave scalping strategy? ›

Elliott Wave theory is based on the idea that market prices move in cycles of five waves in the direction of the main trend, and three waves in the opposite direction. These waves reflect the collective psychology of the market participants, and can be observed at any time frame and any market.

How long is wave 5 in Elliott Wave? ›

The 5th wave, if the longest, typically travels 1.618 the distance of from the start of wave 1 thru the end of wave 3. Wave 3 will often be 1.618 x the length of wave 1. 2.618 is also common. Wave 5 will often be equal to wave 1 if wave 3 is extended.

What is the best time frame to use Elliott Wave? ›

There is no best timeframe for trading the Elliot Wave strategy. It depends on your trading style and personality.

How accurate is Elliott Wave analysis? ›

The Elliott wave principle, as popularly practiced, is not a legitimate theory, but a story, and a compelling one that is eloquently told by Robert Prechter. The account is especially persuasive because EWP has the seemingly remarkable ability to fit any segment of market history down to its most minute fluctuations.

What is the longest Elliott Wave count? ›

Elliott Wave Theory holds that each wave within a wave count contains a complete 5-3 wave count of a smaller cycle. The longest wave count is called the Grand Supercycle.

What is wave 3 of Elliott Wave cycle? ›

Third waves tend to be strong and broad. They are typically unmistakable, as confidence in the direction of the new trend is clearly evident. Wave 3 usually generates the most volume and price movement, and they are the most likely wave to extend.

What is fib time in Elliott Wave? ›

Fibonacci time series are an important element of Elliott Wave Theory. Use Fibonacci time series to break down a certain time period into smaller ones whose lengths are consecutive Fibonacci numbers. End of each smaller period might signify an important change in price.

What is the best scalping strategy time frame? ›

In general, most traders scalp currency pairs using a time frame between 1 and 15 minutes. Whilst there is not really a "best" time frame for scalping, the 15-minute timeframe does tend to be the least popular with most Forex scalping strategies. Both 1-minute and 5-minute timeframes are the most common.

What is the most successful scalping indicator? ›

The EMA indicator is regarded as one of the best indicators for scalping since it responds more quickly to recent price changes than to older price changes. Traders use this technical indicator for obtaining buying and selling signals that stem from crossovers and divergences of the historical averages.

How do you trade Elliott wave like a pro? ›

To trade Elliott waves, you first determine whether your market is in a bull or bear trend, and then whether it is in the motive or corrective phase of the pattern. From there, you can work out which wave the market is currently in and make predictions about where it might head next.

How to count Elliott Waves correctly? ›

The uppercase Roman numerals represent the large-degree waves, the simple numbers represent the medium-degree waves and the lowercase Roman numerals represent the small-degree waves. The trends start with the largest degree (Grand Supercycle) and work their way down to waves of lesser degree.

Is Elliott Wave worth it? ›

Elliott's theory does not show the end of that corrective wave, and there lies the problem because the trader assumes (imagines, expects, bets) that the corrective will end and enters the trade with a large stop loss (just in case the price decides to draw a deeper correction).

Is Elliot Wave hard to learn? ›

According to the Elliott Wave theory, there are 11 patterns and there are certain rules and guidelines which needs to be strictly followed to find and mark those patterns on the chart. It is very difficult to observe those patterns with your naked eyes.

Where to start your Elliott Wave count on a chart? ›

  1. Key Point: you can begin the wave counting over the Extreme Low or Extreme High. ...
  2. The Wave Counting is quite simple on this chart with Wave 1,2 and nice acceleration in wave 3 that moves more confidently, wave 4 pullback and five-wave advance impulsive again. ...
  3. Trick 3: Start in the middle and move forward.
Nov 29, 2022

How to calculate Elliott Wave? ›

How to Use the Elliott Wave Calculator. Using the calculator is simple. Start by entering the high, low, and close prices for the timeframe you want to trade. For example, if you want to trade for one week, enter the high, low, and close prices for the last week before the start of the next week.

What is the best indicator to use with Elliott Wave? ›

In this case, these waves can be considered more as confirmational patterns than patterns used to identify a trend. The Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) is one of the most popular indicators to pair with Elliott Wave analysis and is especially helpful to beginner traders.

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