At EWI's Q&A Message Board, readers ask us dozens of questions daily. Here's an interesting one that several subscribers have recently asked:
"In Bob Prechter's Elliott Wave Theorist, Short Term Update and elsewhere, you say that market sentiment is very bullish right now, which historically has indicated a market top. Is the sentiment really that bullish? I get a different feeling when I look around."
Elliott wave analysis is very visual; we're all about charts. And often, a single look at a well-made chart can instantly show you what's really been going on. Take a look at this chart from the December 2 issue of our Mon.-Wed.-Fri. Short Term Update:
In the words of Steve Hochberg, the Update's editor:
We see the bears’ retreat in the CBOE Volatility Index (VIX), which has dropped sharply the past three days to where it is nearly as low as it’s recent November 25 extreme of 20.05. We see it in the 10-day average of NYSE daily volume, which is at its lowest point since the bear-market rally started in March. And we see it in today’s release of the most recent Investors Intelligence Advisors’ Survey. The above chart shows the percentage of stock market bears, which has contracted to 16.7 percent... There are fewer bears now than at the October 2007 stock market peak and still fewer than at the June-July 2007 top in the NYSE a/d line.
By itself, a sentiment extreme -- whether pessimistic or optimistic -- is not a guarantee of a market reversal. (Nothing is, really: Financial markets exist in the world of probabilities, not certainties.) But couple sentiment measures with a longer-term Elliott wave pattern, and now you have a leg to stand on.
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