Serious question. I've heard this claim and I tend to believe it, but I am unable to find any evidence either way. Reading the "Elliot Wave Principle" I soon began wondering what a big load of bull dung I was reading. I can't imagine anyone actually using it to trade seriously. I'm of the opinion it's basically used to dupe newbies into believing they could get rich quick in the market. I'm perplexed as to why the MTA has it as required reading material, but that's all a distraction from my question. Did Ralph Elliot die broke? Or did he leave whatever heirs he had a fortune from applying his theories in the market?
I don't know if Ralph Elliott died broke but I think it's safe to say he did not die rich. In other words, Elliott Waves did not make Ralph Elliott wealthy.
Yet another newbie who is too lazy to do the work but always ready to bash Took me a mere 30 seconds flat to find the info.
He died broke along with Jesus At a trading conference, Alexander Elder made it a point to mention that R.N. Elliott died a relatively poor man. Kind of odd that someone who discovered the "key" to the financial markets didn't make a few bucks. Alex Elder also had a few words to say about Gann. Apparently, Elder met with Gann's son, who said that his father had been unable to support his family by trading. That's worth saying again: according to his son, Gann was unable to support his family by trading! Instead, Gann earned his living by writing and selling instructional courses. When Gann died in the 1950's, his estate, including his house, was valued at slightly over $100,000. In today's money, that wouldn't be so bad, but remember this guy was supposed to be a magical trader, not just a successful newsletter writer, and $100,000 ain't $50,000,000. Draw your own conclusions. Robert Prechter, a hard working man of great intellect has the same problem IMHO - love the man but a terrible market timer is he - despite how much I like and respect him for his great body of work the truth must not be obscured: Update: From Hulbert's Financial Digest, November 2003, for the Elliott Wave Theorist (Prechter's newsletter): "The HFD reports a 19.1% annualized loss from the beginning of 1985 through 10/31/03 for a portfolio that went long or short in hypothetical shares of the Wilshire on this letter’s advice for traders, and otherwise earned the T-Bill rate. Buying and holding, in contrast, gained 12.7% annualized." You will notice that Prechter's website does not contain this kind of performance data.
Yep. The parts about Elliot and Gann should be copied/pasted on any thread dealing with Gann, Elliot, Fibs, harmonics and anything else related to esoteric cycles and other nonsense. While his stuff sounds more reasonable, Tom Demark is the 1990s version of this. None of their ideas hold up in long-term backtesting or real-time trading. Lots of true believers post cherry-picked trades and make big claims, but none will show you their accounts or trade live for a meaningful period. Only Jack Hershey has uncovered the true cycles and structures that explain every nanosecond of market action. And if you believe that, I'll sell you some tax liens on Hershey's foreclosed property in Arizona!
Another know it all on the innerwebs making baseless claims with no facts to back himself up. The only real usefulness, I've found, of Elliot Wave is the idea that you take 3 steps forward and 2 steps back and assuming you can keep that up, you will make a lot of money. But all that stuff about minuet waves and motive waves, is just silly. Reading the book Elliot Wave Principle is like reading a text written by a snake oil salesman. Literally. If I had the time or inclination I'd make a mock up of an old time snake oil ad replacing the words with things describing the elliot wave theory. And if anything is true about the stock market, is that there is no shortage of snake oil salesmen. Although, the wikipedia page does have a good write up(last time I checked), but I suspect that the writer applied that market psychology retrospectively to justify the Elliot Wave theory. Yes, Jesus died broke too, but he also demanded his followers give all their money to the poor and live a destitute life. So, there's no real conflict of teachings. But thanks for the confirmation. I actually did read a few bios on him, but they never said anything about his financial situations.
If he or Gann had been J. Paul Getty types and left fortunes behind them, trust me, we'd all know about them.
Take a win on the fact that you think - and move on. You can't even spell it right Comparing YOU to Robert Prechter or any technician is akin to comparing a frog's pu**y to the Panama Canal
Robert Prechter: Opinion of AfterLOS Supremely gifted intelligent man with generosity beyond description, yet a terrible market timer with a stunningly lousy track record. AfterLOS shuns and ignores ALL his market timing calls. But never would I ignore his writings and insight overall into technical and fundamentals. In this regard HE is the reigning champ. He taught me a great deal. Very grateful. He is an excellent teacher. But his greatest accomplishment is the application in real life to money making based on his Elliottwave Principle. You see even though he is wrong 110% of the time with his CALLS he is a multi-millionaire and his firm can afford to hire high salaried pros. How can this be possible? Because Robert banks on the one fact about the HERD that is cast in stone in exactly the same way as at ET. The HERD has a terribly short memory and as soon as the next top or bottom appears as soon as Robert gets it right they forgive and forget and pile on in to his services like there's no tomorrow. Robert is rolling in dough and does not TRADE And how does Robert get a top or bottom right? Every single mini-Top is called as the ultimate top until it actually pans out to be so. The HERD forgets the prior miscalls and kisses him, forgiving all his prior transgressions This is Robert's greatest strength - he understands HERD psychology like on other man.