Robert Prechter’s Enduring Impact on Elliott Wave Theory

by | May 12, 2016 | trading | 0 comments

Ralph Elliott left his work unfinished when he died. It was up to other disciples of the legendary Elliott Wave Theory founder to finish up the work he had started. The man who did the most to further and expand on our understanding of this theory is Robert Prechter. While not every household on Main Street is familiar with his name, Prechter is widely recognized for being the leading authority of the Elliott Wave Principle on Wall Street. As Elliott Wave Theory author, newsletter publisher, and forecaster, Prechter continues this important Elliott Wave work today that he started back in the early 1970s.

Robert Prechter as Author

Probably Robert Prechter’s greatest contribution to the Elliott Wave Theory has come from his role as an author. Prechter has either written or edited a full dozen different works on the Wave Theory. Several of these were on the subject of Ralph Elliott’s original works and those of the men who succeeded him in the ideology. Back in 1978, Robert Prechter published the authority and new classic on the Elliott Wave subject, Elliott Wave Principle. In this work, he described Ralph Elliott’s Wave Principle in greater detail using new and updated research. This book is the one credited with popularizing and making more accessible to masses of investors the Elliott Wave Theory.

Prechter predicted the crash in junk bonds and some stock options with his 1990s At the Crest of the Title Wave. A more recent book that Robert authored in 2002 was Conquer the Crash. In this book, Prechter turned bearish on the markets as a result of his readings of the Waves, related technical market indicators, and credit history to predict a coming era of monetary, economic, and financial crises. Between four and five years later, many of his predictions came true. In all of these efforts he relied heavily on his knowledge of and expertise in Elliott Wave Theory.

Robert Prechter as Long Time Publisher of Elliott Wave Theorist

Besides writing books that expound on the Elliott Wave Theory, Robert Prechter has been publishing an award winning newsletter for over 35 years. He started producing The Elliott Wave Theorist back in 1979 and has continued it without fail. This publication has now guided generations of Elliotticians in their continuing studies of the Wave Theory, their interpretations of the possible wave counts, and the application of these ideas to real life stock and other market predictions.

Robert Prechter as Elliott Wave Forecaster

Prechter began his work in 1972 applying Elliott Wave Theory to various financial markets. Besides his work on the Elliott Wave Theorist, he heads the monthly publication of the Global Market Perspective. This massive continuous work represents a 100 page long analysis of every major global market. The analysts who work for Elliott Wave International, Prechter’s company, write it under his supervision.

Prechter’s Elliott Wave work done by his company extends to several other once a month publications on the markets in the U.S., Asia, and Europe. They provide updates on each of these regions three times every week. Elliott Wave application is also made by his company with intraday analysis on the S&P 500 and various other financial markets. Finally, Robert and company offer Elliott Wave analysis and prediction to investors in metals, currencies, energy, and commodity markets. Their claim to be the largest group of independent analysts in the world is not an idle boast. In every endeavor that he and his company pursue, you can see the hand of the elegant theory of Elliott Wave. This is why there is no greater standard bearer for Elliott Wave Principle in the world today than Robert Prechter.

Awards for Robert Prechter’s Work in Elliott Wave Theory

As a direct result of Prechter’s consistent excellence in his ongoing work in Elliott Wave Principle and Theory, he has been recognized by numerous awards over the years. Beginning back in 1984, he secured victory and scored an at at the time record of 444% returns in his U.S. Trading Championship competition efforts. Prechter’s Elliott Wave Theorist has captured a number of awards for publishing, timing the markets, and speaking engagements throughout the 1980s. CNBC named him the “Guru of the Decade” back in 1989 when the channel was still known as the Financial News Network. He was honored ten years later with the Award for Outstanding Contributions to the Development of Technical Analysis in the first year the award was presented. Traders Library gave Prechter its Hall of Fame Award in the year 2003. More recently in 2013, Robert received the Market Technicians Association’s Annual Award for his continuing contributions to technical analysis.

In Conclusion

Robert Prechter is not without his critics who claim that he is a permabear and who have objections to the Elliott Wave Theory. Yet time and again, his analysis using the Elliott Wave Principle has proven to be prescient. For advancing the Elliott Wave work and popularizing it with whole new generations, Elliotticians and technicians alike owe him a debt of gratitude. You will not find any sound arguments that he and his work have represented the greatest contribution to the ongoing success of Elliott Wave.

About Wesley Crowder

W. David Crowder is an American published author. He specializes in financial writing and has years of experience in the topics of investing, personal finance, history, economics and international relations.

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