This question is easily answered. The five waves forward three waves back is the fewest number of waves possible for progress with fluctuation. That's the beauty of Elliott Wave and why I believe that it probably has some scientific basis and that someone will eventually win a Nobel prize one day for finally proving it.
Regarding someone else's question about waves on shorter timeframes. My opinion (based on common sense and some experience) is that Elliott Wave must work best at those timeframes where the price data (as represented on a chart) contains the purest representation of the sentiment behind the actions of the market participants, perhaps with some upper filter for volatility.
As you lengthen the timeframe of your analysis the risk for distortion of the relative meaning of price movements invariably goes up. What is a rise of 100% on the S&P500 when the USD depreciates 50% during the same time? Prechter had this problem when trying to breakdown the count of the 00-02 bear market and attempted to normalise the currency shifts and reduce the wave-count distortion by creating a "stable currency benchmark".
Similarly, while distortions caused by things such as currency fluctuations and inflation will (IMO) over a longer period of time slowly erode the viability of price data for wave counts, sudden increases in volatility (eg. 800-pound gorillas, black swan events etc.) must almost certainly destroy the effectiveness of wave counting until volatility subsides.
And at very small timeframes I expect that it takes events of lesser magnitude to ruin wave counts and start causing Elliott Wave rule breaking price activity. The lower you go the more likely you are to have your counts ruined, again IMO.
Prechter won the US Trading Championships using hourly charts. Many non-EW swing traders I know use this time-frame as their base (zooming out for market perspective and in to fine tune entries/exits). I've personally found the incidence of identifiable wave-counts at this time frame on liquid instruments makes it a kind of sweet spot for actually trading using EW.
My amateur opinion.
A really good post
Dow studied P&F for 15 years
Elliot studied Dow
does not seem to have realised that fact
ie there was already an objective Wave chart method
This 5-3 over a average cycle
is seen in a 3 box reversal chart
and the 45 degree angle
P&F is an objective wave chart
with time as dynamic not static
The EW people see on static time charts
are very hard I think to see on P&F charts
Yet if they were objective they would leap out
molecules break down in to atoms
that are no longer molecules
tides and waves break down in to ripples
EW is often used on indexes
But how can rigid rules be used over long time horizons
when the constituents change all the time to boost performance
esp the DOW such a narrow based index
Wyckoff too based his whole approach on the objective waves
on the small ripples He gives this as there cause
buildings are not just bricksAll stock market movements, however large or small, are made up of buying and selling waves. The market does not rise and fall like the water in a tank which is being filled or emptied. It moves to a higher or lower level by a series of surges - a good deal like an incoming or outgoing tide, with successive waves higher or lower than those preceding.
The small buying and selling waves which occur during every stock market session run so many minutes. They are caused largely by the restlessness of active professional traders, much like the ripples produced by the wind upon the ocean. Traders must have activity; they make their livelihood by trading on fluctuations. Therefore, they engage in a ceaseless tug of war, trying to put prices up whenever the condition of the market is favorable, or drive them down when they find that the bulls are weak or have over-extended themselves.
The degree of success or failure attending their efforts enables us to determine whether the market is growing stronger or weaker. These small waves are part of the larger waves
bricks are not just molecules
molecules are not just atoms
price and volume probably rules at the smallest
relative Strength probably at the largest
EW would have a sweet spot too
5-3 is an average over a cycle
Not all bricks are perfect
But buildings still stand
foundations hold up
etc
motorway