Bulkowski’s Truncation Wave

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Written by and copyright © 2008 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.

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.

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