I never have come to this forum much because I always thought it about support and resistance. Since the last time I visited this I found how much waves are contained by angling lines. Lines are support and resistance.

I have tried about every approach imaginable to try to get a grip on wave counts consistently. When I went back to the books I found a little statement that said, Ralph Nelson considered channels heart of wave counting. If it was not in the channel, it was not valid. So back to the drawing board making lines on the charts.

What I found was that it was like someone who was taking a picture and put there fingers up in a box to focus. That is what channels brings to the wave arena.

First go to your charts and look at the daily SP chart. You can see the channels on this chart. Both for the long term and the last month channel. I do not channel by time, only market data.

What I noticed is that the vast majority of the time. The market moved to the middle or to the lower line(bear market) before the high is put in. So creating the channel is to give perspective to where the middle is.

Also, the market would create an -1-2- pattern inside the channel or just outside of it at the line. Which is really not that bad of place to get in. Either case--once the line is broken--it is notification a new pattern is up. It does not mean south or north, but could mean sideways as in a fourth wave. Counting waves helps with that portion. Or when it breaks the line and keeps struggling. You know your still in a corrective wave.

From wave perspective we want to look at the pattern within the channel. That is one wave and needs to be counted or labeled. It also gives perspective of support and resistant or consolidation areas.

My count is as shown. And notice the bottom red line in chart that is almost flat. That is support since 1981.

Doing channels this way and labeling. You will find at times when you look back. You will say that count is wrong. yet, it has not affected your analysis one bit from then on. If your count is bad enough. Break out of the line is final and wave count needs assesement.

I am looking for this to barely break the line and fourth waves do that. Otherwise it should not except for change of trend.

Tomorrow I will post an intraday data chart of this market.