The Gartley Pattern – Part 3
My personal experience with the Gartley Pattern started back in the late 1990’s. I was referred to a certain Robert Miner who according to an internet contact I had made, was the authority on all things related to the works of legendary trader W.D. Gann. I purchased Robert’s software “Dynamic Trader” and found a function that allowed one to quickly determine whether the swings on a chart conformed to typical Elliott Wave structure or to a G222. I thought to myself, “What in the world is a G222?” After searching the internet, I was led to a Larry Pesavento (see my previous article). It turned out that Larry called the Gartley Pattern the G222 because in H.M. Gartley’s book “Profits in the Stock Market”, the pattern that Larry “rediscovered” appears on page 222!
After much research, it became clear to me that the G222 or the Gartley Pattern was just what I was looking for. After reading as many technical analysis books I could get my hands on, I started to notice a commonality between most of the classical chart patterns and the Gartley Pattern. The Gartley fits within the context of many of the classical chart patterns such as the head and shoulders pattern, double tops and double bottoms, flags, pendants, triangles and even Elliott Wave.
Since the reintroduction of the Gartley Pattern to the trading world by Larry Pesavento, there have been many traders who have written about the Gartley Pattern. It seems that everyone has their own unique way of trading it. The situation is not unlike what happened with the popularity of Elliott Wave. Since Robert Prechter reintroduced the trading world to the “Wave Principle” by R.N. Elliott, many other self proclaimed Elliott Wave guru’s have emerged, each with their own spin on how to trade Elliott Wave. This is very much the same thing that has happened with the Gartley Pattern. In addition, Elliott Wave as it is taught today, has become much more complicated that what was described by it’s inventor. In similar fashion, the original Gartley pattern is very simple compared to the present. Today, the Gartley pattern has evolved into a pattern that is much more complicated than the way Gartley taught it in 1935.
In part 4 of this series of articles, we will discuss the true definition of the Gartley Pattern according to it’s creator….H.M. Gartley.
Ross Beck, FCSI
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