📈 Impulse Patterns

Standard 5-wave impulse, leading/ending diagonal, truncated fifth, extended wave 3 and wave personality in detail.

In this Chapter

1 📈 Standard 5-Wave Impulse 2 ↘️ Leading Diagonal (Wave 1 or A) 3 ↘️ Ending Diagonal (Wave 5 or C) 4 ✂️ Truncated Fifth 5 🚀 Extended Waves: Wave 3 vs. Wave 5

1. 📈 Standard 5-Wave Impulse

The standard impulse pattern (also: "motive wave") consists of 5 waves with the following sub-structure: 5-3-5-3-5 (each impulse wave itself has 5 sub-waves, each corrective wave 3 sub-waves).

Wave	Sub-structure	Typical length	Key characteristic
Wave 1	5 sub-waves	Shortest or middle impulse wave	Weak volume, often misinterpreted
Wave 2	3 sub-waves (ABC)	50–78.6% of wave 1	Never 100%+ of wave 1 (core rule)
Wave 3	5 sub-waves	Usually 161.8% of wave 1; never the shortest	Strongest wave, highest volume
Wave 4	3 sub-waves (ABC)	23.6–38.2% of wave 3	Never overlaps with wave 1 (core rule)
Wave 5	5 sub-waves	Often = wave 1; sometimes = 61.8% of waves 1+3	Frequently shows RSI divergence

2. ↘️ Leading Diagonal (Wave 1 or A)

A leading diagonal only occurs in wave-1 position or wave-A position. It has a triangular shape with overlapping waves, and its sub-waves follow a 5-3-5-3-5 structure (like a regular impulse).

Identification features:

Tapering or expanding trendlines (converging or diverging boundaries)
Wave 2 and wave 4 overlap with wave 1 and wave 3 respectively (allowed in diagonals!)
Each sub-wave is an impulse (5 sub-waves)
Wave 4 enters the territory of wave 1 (exception to core rule 3)

💡 Leading diagonals are bearish warning signals: a leading diagonal in wave 1 is often followed by a very deep wave-2 correction (down to 78.6% or lower).

3. ↘️ Ending Diagonal (Wave 5 or C)

An ending diagonal appears at the end of an impulse (wave 5) or a correction (wave C) — it signals trend exhaustion. Sub-wave structure: 3-3-3-3-3 (all sub-waves are corrections!).

Identification features:

Converging trendlines (both boundaries run together)
Declining volume
RSI divergence in the 5th sub-wave
All 5 sub-waves are 3-wave structures (not 5-wave!)
Wave 4 overlaps with wave 1

Trading implication: An ending diagonal is almost always followed by a sharp reversal back to the diagonal's starting point (or beyond). Ending diagonals are the most reliable reversal signals in Elliott Wave theory.

4. ✂️ Truncated Fifth

A truncated fifth (also: "truncation") occurs when wave 5 fails to make a new high (in an uptrend) beyond wave 3. Wave 5 therefore ends below the wave-3 high.

When does it occur?

In very strong markets where wave 3 was extremely extended
Often after an extended wave 3 (161.8%+ of wave 1)
Signals extreme weakness: the market can no longer reach the wave-3 high

Important: Wave 5 must still have an internal 5-wave structure even when it fails to break above wave 3. Truncations are bearish — expect a sharp ABC correction afterwards.

5. 🚀 Extended Waves: Wave 3 vs. Wave 5

Within an impulse, one of the three impulse waves (1, 3 or 5) is typically the "extended wave" — clearly longer than the other two.

Extension in	Typical for	Wave-3 length	Market context
Wave 3	Trending markets, strong fundamentals	161.8–261.8% of wave 1	Most common extension; signals a strong trend
Wave 5	Bull-market tops, speculative excess	Short; wave 5 = 100–161.8% of wave 1	Typical in final blow-off tops; euphoria phase
Wave 1	Rare; early, aggressive trend reversals	Normal	Waves 3 and 5 then tend toward equality

💡 Rule of thumb: In 80%+ of all cases, wave 3 is the extended wave. Once you see wave 3, plan for 161.8% of wave 1 as your primary target.