Meet Jim Martens, the analyst who’s followed one method for over 30 years and can tell you exactly where the commodity markets stand right now. In this interview he explains why the Wave Principle “just made sense,” then shows it in action on two grain markets setting up this morning — with plenty more waiting in his Commodity Junctures Weekly Wrap-Up.
Jim, introduce yourself for anyone who hasn’t met you.
I’m Jim Martens, editor of Elliott Wave International’s Commodities Pro Service and of Commodity Junctures. I grew up in New York, ended up in South Florida, and I’ve followed one method — and only one — for more than 30 years: the Wave Principle.
How did you find it?
I got interested in markets at an early age, then in college I started watching Bob Prechter on the old Financial News Network, FNN. Everything he said made sense to me. I ordered the free Elliott Wave Theorist, read it, and it made sense too. By 1989 I was a subscriber, and in 1993 I moved to Georgia to work for Elliott Wave International.
Why did it stick?
Because crowd psychology moves markets, not fundamentals. We’ve all seen hundreds of examples where stocks drop on good news or rally on bad news. Or when inflation hedges don’t hedge. Or when war breaks out and gold or crude go in the opposite direction they were “supposed” to go. Why? Because fundamentals don’t drive markets. Psychology drives prices, and psychology is patterned. That’s the basis of the Wave Principle. What it gives me is location. It’s like walking into a mall and finding the sign that says, “You are here.” Five waves with the trend, three against it — my whole job is finding the arrow. If I can tell where we are in that progression, I know what likely lies ahead. It doesn’t make me always right, but it keeps my risk small and keeps me on the right side of the trend.
You’re recording this week’s Wrap right now. Is anything standing out this morning?
Wheat is the one I’d point to. Weeks ago, when it was still falling, I read the decline as the final wave of an expanded flat — a correction, not the start of something worse — and told subscribers I was bullish against the low. That’s the count that mattered, because it kept us positioned for a turn instead of chasing the market down. This morning, wheat pushed above a level I’d flagged as the tell, and that breach is exactly what I wanted to see. It says a larger third wave up is likely underway rather than a bounce that fizzles.
Anything else?
Soybean meal, for the same reason. I caught the low coming out of a terminal pattern — a thrust from a triangle, which is a classic exhaustion signal — and called for the reversal right there. We then watched a clean five-wave rally unfold; I called for the correction that followed, and that pullback looks like it’s already run its course. So meal turned when the pattern said it should, and I’m still leaning bullish.
Where can people see the full picture?
In the Weekly Wrap-Up. Wheat and soybean meal are the two I’d flag this morning, but they’re hardly the only markets that look compelling right now — I’m seeing setups across the softs and the meats too, and I’ll walk through all of them in this week’s Commodity Junctures Weekly Wrap-Up. I scour dozens of charts — cocoa, coffee, cotton, sugar and orange juice in the softs; soybeans, soybean oil, soybean meal, corn and wheat in the grains; lean hogs, live cattle and feeder cattle in the meats — and bring subscribers my highest-confidence counts, with the biggest potential and the biggest risks highlighted. The exact levels, targets and lines in the sand are all in there.
If you want to see how I’m reading them, take the Commodity Junctures Test Drive.
Commodity Junctures Test Drive Is On Now
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Jim Martens Chief Commodity Analyst
A 35-year market veteran, Jim Martens has taught Elliott waves at dozens of trading seminars around the world and has always enjoyed interacting with subscribers. Jim began his study of R.N. Elliott’s Wave Principle in the mid-1980s, which led to a position with Sabin Commodities at the Commodity Exchange Center in New York. He joined EWI in 1993 and soon became the editor EWI’s Currency Outlook of our Currency & Commodities Forecast. In 2000, Jim accepted an invitation to join Nexus Capital Ltd. as their Chief Technical Analyst. He returned to EWI in 2004 to lead our FX and cryptocurrency teams. Jim now runs our Commodities Pro Service, Commodity Junctures, and is also a Trader’s Classroom Instructor.
