When is an impulse wave considered part of a larger impulse?

[makeithappen]

If W5 contains more up bars and is longer in duration
than W3, would this imply that the entire impulse
pattern will be re-labled a wave 3? For instance, if
you look at EBAY on a daily chart, you'll see a nice
impulse wave pattern with diverging 5,35 OSC. Since
W5 is longer that W3, would the entire sequence be
re-labeled as a W3 top (versus W5 top)?

[gspiker]

If W5 contains more up bars and is longer in duration
than W3, would this imply that the entire impulse
pattern will be re-labled a wave 3?

Not at all. W3 are never the shortest wave, but that doesn't mean they are always the longest. While W3 are frequently the longest, extended W5's are far from rare.

[ACM]

While I do know of some that also use time as a component of their Elliott Wave analysis I personally don't and refer only to price.
From this point of view wave5 would still have more to go before even equalling wave3 as labeled by Get. That projection - which would anyhow still be acceptable in terms of a wave5 - can be seen in the chart at 81.26.
In the mean time though the conservative approach would suggest a convergence of measurements in the area between 78.13 and 78.82 the latter being the primary wave5 projection and the former the wave5 of 5 projection.
Only once that area were taken out would I then want to consider alternative wave counts.
Alex

[MR]

Craig,

Garth is correct and Alex offers good insights [I just read Alex after this post.] Wave 3 can never be the smallest and wave 5 extentions are not rare. Also, the number of data bars, I don't think, necessarly correlate to proper wave relationships, but wave lengths and general wave patterns do tell something about the wave sequence in progress.

Upon a quick glance at BAY- to compare notes- would say it is not impossible this could relabel eventually to a Wave 3, but several things need to first happen, none which I see happening quite yet. The only way this wave will become a W3 again is for the oscillator to continue to grow strong again.

Yes, the 5/35 is legitimately hinting at divergence, yet when you look at the 10/70, 5/35, and 5/17 they all are still positive. If this 3-4-5 is to top out soon- try one helpful technique here- try applying the 1.40 calculation to the 5/17 as it could give you advanced notice of a breakdown to come in this sequence.

One more thing in the Daily EBAY example you mentioned. Notice Wave 2 and Wave 4 labeled are both simple corrections. This violates the Rule of Alternation. When I see this, it raises a 'flag' that something isn't correct here. One thing that might make it incorrect is if somehow this trend slowly continues up and eventually Wave 3 could be relabeled higher, as you are maybe thinking is a possiblity. (Check the alternate Long wave count and it does suggest this is a possibility.) In this instance, I really do suspect for now Wave 5 will be the one to extend higher.

Because I think you have a very good question and this is a good example to work with, I am going to analyze this stock in greater detail today and will post it to our Advanced GET User Group site if you are interested in seeing it later.

[makeithappen]

Sounds great! I look forward to your additional findings. Thank you!

[MR]

EBAY analysis done for you

Craig,

I took a look at EBAY for you. It is too much to attach here with
comments, so I created a PDF for you. I made it as simple as
possible, hoping it would still make sense yet provide a better
picture how to react in the future based on price action to come.
Let me know later if it helps at all.

Click on link below to see EBAY:

http://share.esignal.com/groupcontents.jsp?folder=&groupid=20