Subscribe to RSS feeds Bulkowski Blog via RSS

Thomas Bulkowski’s successful investment activities allowed him to retire at age 36. He is an internationally known author and trader with 30 years of stock market experience and widely regarded as a leading expert on chart patterns. His books, including the best selling Encyclopedia of Chart Patterns, have been translated into many languages. He may be reached at

Support this site! Clicking on his books below takes you to Amazon.com. If you buy ANYTHING, they pay for the referral.

Here are his books...

Bulkowski's Truncation Wave

Elliott
Wave
Funda-
mentals
Indicators Market
Review
Pattern
Rank
Psychology Quiz Research Software Test
Portfolios
Trading
Class
Trading
Setups
Tutorial Watch
List
ThePatternSite.com logo Busted
Patterns
Candles Chart
Patterns
Event
Patterns
Scoring
Patterns
Volume
Patterns
Daily Small Patterns
Market
Industrials (^DJI):
Transports (^DJT):
Utilities (^DJU):
Nasdaq (^IXIC):
S&P 500 (^GSPC):
As of 05/22/2013
15,307 -80.41 -0.5%
6,416 -102.74 -1.6%
507 -8.03 -1.6%
3,463 -38.82 -1.1%
1,655 -13.81 -0.8%
YTD
16.8%
20.9%
12.0%
14.7%
16.1%
Tom's Targets    Overview: 05/14/2013
15,500 or 14,850 by 06/01/2013
6,750 or 6,200 by 06/01/2013
525 or 500 by 06/01/2013
3,600 or 3,300 by 06/01/2013
1,700 or 1,600 by 06/01/2013
Wilder RSI: 22.7%

Written and copyright © 2008-2013 by Thomas N. Bulkowski. All rights reserved.

This page describes the truncation pattern of the Elliott wave principle, how price moves not in a straight line but in a series of rises and retracements.

The truncation wave in a bull market. The figure to the right shows what a truncation wave looks like in a bull market. Truncation occurs when wave five fails to move beyond the end of wave three. For this reason, truncation is sometimes called a truncated fifth (or even a 2B). The red line illustrates how wave five fails to meet or exceed the end of wave three.

 

 

The subwave configuration for a truncation. The figure to the right show the subwave configuration of an ideal truncation in a bull market. Waves one, three, and five, are composed of five sub waves. Waves two and four have three subwaves each. Thus the configuration of the subwaves is 5-3-5-3-5.

 

 

 

The truncation in a bear market. This chart is the same as the prior one but the wave occurs in a bear market. Wave five fails to reach the end of wave three as the red line shows.

According to Frost and Prechter, you will see a truncated fifth often after an unusually strong wave 3 thrust.

Truncation Wave Rules

The truncation has rules that govern its shape. They are listed here.

  • The truncation is a motive wave that fails to complete the trend.
  • Subwave five falls to move beyond the end of wave three.
  • The pattern has a 5-3-5-3-5 subwave structure.

-- Thomas Bulkowski

Top 

See Also

Copyright © 2008-2013 by Thomas N. Bulkowski. All rights reserved. Bumper sticker: Watch out for the idiot behind me.