Not being able to meaningfully identify uniform wave count contexts over different timeframes is a common struggle traders can face when working to gain Elliott Wave expertise.

The first best general advice we can give you is that, in the context of multiple timeframes, you should generally be analyzing/trading one count at a time. If you find yourself with disagreement between counts at different timeframes, as they say, “you’re doing it wrong”.

Wave count context

The recommended workflow is to decide on a larger timeframe count(s) and then use smaller timeframes to refine the wave count toward making a trading decision. The timeframes that you choose should be relevant to and based on your trading objectives with regard to time horizon.

A common mistake is attempting to compare wave counts at multiple timeframes rather than considering smaller timeframe wave counts within the context of larger timeframe counts. Several of our tutorial videos discuss the topic of wave count context.

This typical Elliott Wave analysis process is analogous to finding a route or location on an online map. You typically start zoomed out, then progressively zoom in to find your destination. We’re sure you can imagine how confusing it might be to try to navigate by comparing different snapshots of different map areas at different zoom levels. It’s no different with Elliott Wave analysis – maintaining consistent higher timeframe context throughout all phases of your analysis (“zooming in”) is critical.

So again, smaller timeframe counts should always be consistent with the larger timeframe count, rather than independent counts – again, just like with a map.

In this regard, a few features built into WaveBasis are specifically intended to help make working from higher to lower timeframes more natural, streamlined, and consistent.

For example, you can enable the Waves on all timeframes feature, which will allow you to move freely between different timeframes while retaining the same wave count context – just like a map.

More specifically, if your starting timeframe is a daily chart, for example, rather than running a wave count on a separate chart at a smaller timeframe, you can simply switch your daily chart to your target timeframe and use the Count Subwaves feature on the smaller timeframe to refine your analysis.

The “Alts for subwave counts” feature can also be useful in this context and is also discussed in the blog article linked above.

Another way to advance your analysis from higher to lower timeframes is to use the Timeframe Drilldown feature. This is particularly useful in scenarios when it might be preferable to view higher and lower timeframes on separate charts.

If you’re intent on ignoring this guidance by comparing the same wave count on two different timeframes, there’s nothing to stop you from doing that. However, please at least make sure you begin your wave counts at the same starting point. We recommend an article on our blog that addresses starting your wave count at a meaningful place since it’s also relevant in the context of multiple timeframe analysis.