Wave 3 Rule
Wave 3 Rule in Elliott Wave Theory: An absolute rule stating that Wave 3 can never be the shortest of the three impulse waves (1, 3, and 5). Wave 3 does not need to be the longest; it simply cannot be the shortest. If it appears shorter than both waves 1 and 5, the count is wrong.
What Wave 3 Rule Means
An absolute rule stating that Wave 3 can never be the shortest of the three impulse waves (1, 3, and 5). Wave 3 does not need to be the longest; it simply cannot be the shortest. If it appears shorter than both waves 1 and 5, the count is wrong.
Where You'll See It
Wave 3 Rule appears regularly in Artavest's weekly wave-count analysis across 108 US stocks and ETFs. It's part of the rule family of Elliott Wave concepts and shows up most often when analysts are checking whether a candidate wave count satisfies the absolute rules — a violation kills the count immediately.
- → Elliott Wave Theory Guide — the 5-3 pattern, rules, Fibonacci, wave degrees
- → Elliott Wave Cheat Sheet — the 3 absolute rules and 6 Fibonacci relationships
- → Our Methodology — how Artavest analysts count waves on 108 US instruments