The market erased 5% in the last 3 trading days just the same as it added 5% in 3 trading days off the March 09 lows. How ironic! Ok, so I have studied the charts and Elliot wave theory, and here is my take. The market has completed countertrend wave B of the Bear market ABC (all bear markets have a ABC structure). The final C wave should take most of 2010 to unfold and most likely will retest the SPX 666 lows or perhaps even take them out. Of course, there is a slim possibility that this won't happen at all, but that would be to deny the bear market. As a contrarian, even as the countertrend wave B was blasting up, pundits were saying the bear market is over. How absurd!
Now more about the C wave. It heads down and based on past bear markets will probably be laid out in 5 major waves, each with a 5 intermediate wave structure. Each wave goes like this: Wave 1 down, wave 2 up wave 3 down, wave 4 up and wave 5 down. A few more tips; waves have symmetry so if wave one extends, waves 3 and 5 will be about equal, or if wave 3 extends waves 1 and 5 will be about equal, See the pattern? Ok so lets look at the SPX hour chart to see what is going on.
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We are in major wave 1 of 5. There are 5 intermediate waves within each major wave. Each intermediate wave has five minute waves. We see minute wave one went from 1150 -1129 (1), 1129 -1142 (2), 1142-
underway and speculation now using support and resistance and indicators and EWT will probably bottom at 1085 (3), 1085 -1113 to backtest the 50 ema from the underside (4) and 1113-1077 (5) As this intermediate wave is building we see that wave 3 is extending; 1142-1085 is 57 points and that equals wave one and wave 5 combined (1150-1129 = 21, and 1113-1077 = 36, 21 points + 36 points = 57 points. (That is how I do the extension, which may or may not play out exactly but should be somewhat similar, based on the rules of waves.) I am thinking wave one will end right on the bottom channel (green line) one the SPX daily chart below:
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Now for the year and TSP IFT considerations:
1) For each intermediate downwave, the minute waves 2 and 4 are upwaves, but they are very weak and short. Look at wave 2 of the current structure, it was only 13 points and a 1.1% gain. With our IFT delay requirement, and depending where the wave tops intra-day, you have a high chance of getting burned. Lot of risk for small reward.
2) Intermediate waves 2 and 4 of each major wave might be 5-10% rallies. We want to identify where they start and buy and hold through them.
2) Major waves 2 and 4 are upwaves. These are the big rallies to catch, as each one could be a 10% or greater gain. These are the bread and butter rallies of the year -buy and hold while they are underway. You don't want to be out of IFT bullets when these waves take off. It will be very important to identify the bottom of wave one, where this snapback rally will occur.