Hi guys, this is wave 618 and this is an Elliott Wave tutorial on flat patterns. So when we talk about flat patterns, we're talking about corrective patterns. Of corrective patterns there are a few different variants. So we have flat patterns, then we have zigzags and we also have triangles.
Then we also have more complex patterns which may involve more than one corrective pattern joined by what we call an X wave. That's slightly beyond the scope of this video, so I won't go into it just now. We'll focus on the flat patterns, which, as you can see here, I've referred to as a 3-3-5 wave count. What that means is, it's made up of an A, B, C, and the sub-wave count of A is 3 waves, the sub-wave count of B is 3 waves, and the sub-wave count of C is 5 waves. So let's start.
By drawing what we call a regular flat and I'll explain why we call that a regular flat So if we draw a like this B like this and C like this generally with any flat pattern a will be equal to C in terms of in terms of the length of the wave so A is like that C will come to the same level right here just like that So a will equal C in these flat patterns now the wave count. Let's do a sub wave count So whenever you see a subway count of three we would label that in a corrective way. So we use Letters, which is ABC. That's one thing that's important to remember whenever we're labeling impulse waves. We use numbers For example the 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. When we're doing corrective waves we use A, B, C. Now when we're doing this sub wave count, the A wave is a corrective pattern because it's only made of three legs.
A, B, C. Now the next wave again is made up of three waves so we'll label that A, B, C. And then the final leg, the C leg, is actually impulsive because that's made of five legs. So typically it will look something like this, five legs down. Now this leg is very interesting, it catches a lot of people out. People see five legs down and think hang on, is this an impulse wave and the start of a new trend downwards? Because when you see an impulse wave, generally impulse waves follow the direction of the larger trend.
So when you see five legs down you have to think is this the start of a new trend down? Are we going to see five legs down followed by three waves up followed by five legs down? However, you have to analyze what's happened beforehand. If you've seen three waves down here, three waves up, you can expect it just to complete this flat pattern by forming is impulsive five legs down and then from there the correction pattern has finished this regular flat Which means we're about to see a new impulse leg like this one two three four five Okay, so with all these flats you see this three three five Subwave count so let's just Remove these sub waves so it's a bit clearer.
Now the only difference between these flat patterns whether it's a regular running or expanded flat is essentially where B and C are positioned in relation to A. So in a running flat what you'll get instead of B coming up to where A started it will actually go a little bit higher and the C wave, because as I say C is equal to A will come to around here. Assuming we would use our fib extension to determine where C would come down to because C would be equal to A. So if that's the length of A we do a fib extension from B C would be there on the 1 to 1 line. So this That was a running flat right there.
Now an expanded flat is a little more complicated. And in fact in an expanded flat A is not equal to C. I'll explain exactly what that looks like now. So if this is A, B again, like in a running flat will come up higher than where A started and then C will actually come down lower than A. So we call it expanded flat because the pattern is expanding.
Yeah This is getting white making the whole correction pattern wider and again It's getting wider to the lower end here. So we say that the move is expanding with time Yeah, that's why it's labeled an expanded flat Now there are some important fib levels to determine where we can expect B and C to finish in an expanded flat So for example if we calculate the length of A. So let's do it from here. If this is A, B typically comes up to the 1.382 of A and then if we take this fib extension down or let's draw it another way. Let's do a fib extension again.
Let's take the length of A. C will be a 1.618 extension of A. So C would come to here. So it's following our principle of expanded flat where the waves are getting bigger each time. A is this length and B is a 1.382 extension of A and C is a 1.618 extension of 8. This forms what we call an expanded flat.
So these are our three different flat patterns. And depending on where the flat is occurring, typically these flat patterns occur more in a wave 4. So in an impulse wave, that's our 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, We usually see these expanded flats if we were to do a sub wave count, usually in this wave. We've got two corrective waves here, there's a wave 2 and a wave 4. So typically wave 2 forms what we call a zigzag and it's quite an aggressive move down.
Whilst wave 4 usually takes a lot longer to form. And that's where you often see these flat patterns, you often see triangles. So for example, this wave 4 may look something like this.
So this is what we call a regular flat. Alternatively, it may form a running flat. So A would come down to here, B here and C up here. And we'd actually label the end of wave 4 here because this is where wave 5 starts. That would be a running flat.
And then last but not least we'd have an expanded flat. So with an expanded flat you'd have A coming down, B coming higher. than where A started and C coming down even lower than where A finished. Yeah, and then you put your end of 4 here. Yeah, so typically it's in wave 4 that you see these flat patterns.
Also in wave 4 you often see triangles and in the wave 2 you more commonly see zigzags. I'll go into these other corrective patterns which are zigzags and triangles in other videos. But I just want to show you essentially where you can be most likely to expect these flat patterns. So, yeah, but as I say, depending on whether you're in a wave 2 or a wave 4, that will determine how far the retracement pattern comes. For example, as mentioned in my last video, wave 4s typically come down to the 38.2 retracement.
wave 3 which would be here. So you can expect your expanded flat to finish at the 38.2 However, it can finish at any level providing it doesn't overlap with wave 1 Yeah, as per the rules of Elliott wave which were discussed in the previous video about correction and impulse waves. So yeah that essentially sums it up for correction not correction waves but flat pattern correction waves.
So it's a 3-3-5 pattern where A and B are made up of three waves each and wave C is made up of five waves which looks very impulsive, catches a lot of people out. People think trend is reversing because they see that impulsive wave. However, it's actually just the final leg of the corrective wave. So...
Yeah, I'll leave it at that. That sums up flat patterns. And, yep, we will be making more videos looking more specifically at triangles and zigzags, which are the other variants of corrected patterns. Alright, I'll leave it there.