This is an excerpt from the forthcoming Liberated Stock Trader Book & Training Course : to be notified of release please register free as a member or select “Get Email Updates” in the left hand bar.

Over the past 200 years much has been written about cycles some of it very useful and some of it not so applicable to trading success.  Cycles are evident in nature in the form of the earth’s rotation (days) earth rotation around the Sun (years), the moons rotation around the earth (tides), the seasons, animal migration and solar activity.  Some traders believe natural cycles have an effect on the market.  Is some ways they do, for example Weather cycles can have an effect on crop output which can affect commodity prices, which in turn affect the stock price of a company dependent on the commodity.  However are there other cycles which can be measures for the more general stock market activity?

The effect of cycles on the economy, marketplace and business is clear; in this section we will take a look into the theory of cycles and look at how we can apply them to improve our understanding of market fluctuations and major moves.  This will in turn enable us to make better trading decisions.

The most famous cycles are the Kondratieff Wave, Kuznets Cycle, Kuznets Cycle, Business Cycle, Presidential Cycle Seasonal Cycle and Daily Cycles.  There are even intraday cycles.

Business Cycles

The Kondratieff Wave

The Kondratieff wave measures between 46 and 60 years with a periodicity of 54 years. Based on Wholesale Prices in the US in the 1800’s, this phenomenon has been mapped from the 1800’s through to today. The last trough was 1940, and the prediction for a trough in 2000 seemed to be correct. However to see if this cycle theory proves correct again, we will have to wait another 40 to 50 years. How actionable this data is, is another question. Normally using statistical data a trend / theory is proven after 12 to 16 data points which we certainly do not have here. Also this theory is quite controversial in the annals of economists. Is it a tradeable cycle, well not really.

The Kuznets & Juglar Cycles

The Kuznets Cycle named after Simon Kuznets lasts 18.3 years, and here you can see it plotted onto the Dow Jones Industrial Average starting in 1934.

The Kuznets cycle seems to work reasonably well, marking the low point of the in the 1930’s depression, the start of the price surge in the 1950’s, the market crash of 1987 and the consequent establishment of the roaring bull market that lasted until 2000, however its timing seems to be slightly off in 2008, as it predicted a new phase from 2006 onwards.  However all in all it is a very interesting element of Cycle analysis.

Kuznets Cycle

Clement Juglar was one of the first to develop an economic theory of business cycles; the Juglar cycle is approximately half of the 18.3 year cycle at 9.2, fluctuating between 7 and 11 years.  This highlights the concept of nominality meaning each larger wave detected seems to be twice the size of the next smaller wave.  The Juglar cycle is of a similar wavelength to the 10 year “stock market cycle”.

The article in the book goes on to discuss the decennial cycle, the business or Kitchin cycle, the Seasonal cycle and even the daily cycle.  It has original research and actionable tradable insights.

This is an excerpt from the forthcoming Liberated Stock Trader Book & Training Course : to be notified of release please register free as a member or select “Get Email Updates” in the left hand bar.

Other Chapter excerpts from the Liberated Stock Trader Book & Training Course are here :

Chapter 1 – Essential Stock Market Knowledge – Fundamentals

Chapter 2 – Why do Booms and Busts Occur?

Chapter 3 – Stock Market Cycles – Business & Economic Cycles – Kondratieff to Kuznets

Chapter 4 – Is the Company in great shape – P/E Ratio

Chapter 5 – How to find the best stocks

Chapter 6 – Japanese Candlesticks – Bullish Reversal Patterns

Chapter 7 – How to draw trend lines

Chapter 8 – ROC Rate of Change Indicator