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1992issue C011-4

Constructing the Gann quarterly swing from the prior quarter's intraday range

A Gann quarterly chart is built by carrying the prior calendar quarter's intradaily extremes forward as a swing box. The long-horizon trend hypothesis changes only when the Dow Jones Industrial Average trades through that box, not when it merely clears the prior quarter's close.

  • Construct a quarterly upturn only when the Dow Jones Industrial Average trades above the prior calendar quarter's intradaily high, not merely above that quarter's closing high.
  • Keep the constructed trend up until the average trades below the prior quarter's intradaily low; that breach is what constructs a quarterly downturn.
  • Follow the four calendar quarters and carry each quarter's intradaily high and low forward as the swing box the next quarter must break.
  • After any quarterly upturn or downturn, a short-term high or low is described as typically forming within one to three days.
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Gann angles11 readingsCurrent trackSwing chart34 readings

Treat the quarterly swing as a construction drill

The Gann quarterly chart is a long-horizon swing construction. It stays in force until the current quarter takes out the prior quarter's true high or true low.

Editorial: treat the method as a construction drill. Freeze the prior calendar quarter into a swing box of that quarter's full high-to-low range, then let only an intradaily break of that box rewrite the long-horizon trend hypothesis.

Freeze the prior calendar quarter as a swing box

The swing boxes follow the calendar quarters January to March, April to June, July to September, and October to December. Each new quarter requires the prior quarter's intradaily high and low to be carried forward.

That carried range is the swing box. It is the channel the next quarter must break before the trend hypothesis can change.

An intradaily extreme is the highest high or lowest low printed during a session, as distinct from the settlement print. The construction uses those session extremes, not the close alone.

How the upturn and downturn are constructed

A quarterly upturn begins when price trades through the prior quarter's intradaily high. The constructed trend then stays up until the average trades below the prior quarter's intradaily low.

That downside breach is what constructs a quarterly downturn.

On the weekly Dow Jones Industrial Average chart used to illustrate the method, a buy mark is placed when price exceeds the previous quarter's intradaily high. A sell mark is placed when price breaks the previous quarter's intradaily low.

Two 1980 cases that show the rule

The first-quarter 1980 intradaily high of 918.17 on February 13 was not exceeded during the second quarter, so no quarterly upturn was constructed that quarter.

The third-quarter 1980 upturn was constructed on July 7 when the average reached 896.34, one hundredth above the second-quarter intradaily high of 896.33 printed on June 26.

The 1991 downturn threshold

In the 1991 write-up, a downturn of the then-current quarterly uptrend was specified only on a break of 2836.31 intradaily during the October to December quarter.

What typically follows a constructed turn

After any quarterly upturn or downturn, a short-term high or low is described as typically forming within one to three days.

Gann quarterly swing turns on the DJIA, 1980–1991

A trader should see that every constructed quarterly turn from 1980 through 1991 was followed by a large continuation in that direction, most violently after the 15 October 1987 downturn at 2391.25. The plotted levels are the DJIA prints Favors states for signals A through I and for the named highs and lows between those turns, not a weekly tracing of the bars.
A trader should see that every constructed quarterly turn from 1980 through 1991 was followed by a large continuation in that direction, most violently after the 15 October 1987 downturn at 2391.25. The plotted levels are the DJIA prints Favors states for signals A through I and for the named highs and lows between those turns, not a weekly tracing of the bars.Dow Jones Industrial Average · quarterly · 1980-07-07T00:00:00.000Z to 1991-11-30T00:00:00.000Z

Each turn is an intradaily break of the prior calendar quarter's extreme, not a break of that quarter's close. The article does not date the 1987 bull-market peak or the crash low, so those episodes are not interpolated.

Educational research material, not investment advice. Historical source context does not establish present-day performance.
6 of 30 in the Swing chart track
19921-7 pp.Next on Swing chartAudit quarterly swing breakouts with a slower average crossA quarterly-range-breakout turns up when the studied average trades through the prior calendar quarter’s intraday high and stays up until that average trades through the prior quarter’s intraday low, using the fixed windows January through March, April through June, July through September, and October through December.
All readings on this track · 30 readings
  1. 1982Constructing range resistance from harmonic swing divisions
  2. 1984Gold swing chart: failed highs, wash-out, and a boxed pivot range
  3. 1988Remaining life on a percent-filtered swing chart
  4. 1991Ranking turning points with percentage swing filters
  5. 1991Five-count swing-chart construction and break rules
  6. 1992Constructing the Gann quarterly swing from the prior quarter's intraday range
  7. 1992Audit quarterly swing breakouts with a slower average cross
  8. 1992Weekly swing invalidation and the trailing stop
  9. 1992Quarterly swing chart construction and trend duration
  10. 1998A two-bar swing is unfinished until it names the stop
  11. 1999Multiple time-frame swing-channel trade setups
  12. 1999Separate two-bar swing direction from peak-valley trend
  13. 2000Constructing peak-trough swing reversals
  14. 2002Swing charts as shared grammar for trading mentorship
  15. 2002Confirming the last leg of a zigzag trend filter
  16. 2004When a late trend bends: test the pause before sizing a reversal
  17. 2006Crude oil swing counts and cycle clusters
  18. 2006When late rallies flatten: a swing-chart classroom
  19. 2006Relocating trading certainty to the decision process
  20. 2008Swing highs, bar-count pace, and the cost-price stop
  21. 2010Constructing suspect versus confirmed swing trends
  22. 2010Constructing swing charts from clear bar ranges
  23. 2010Building price force maps from two-bar swings
  24. 2010Clear-method swing-chart construction
  25. 2011Treat a squared-chart swing forecast as a same-day hypothesis
  26. 2012Cycle mode construction from aligned bandpass swing waves
  27. 2013Stacked swing lows and breakout retrace tests
  28. 2015Building swing charts from perceptually important points
  29. 2015Construct a zztop from perceptually important points
  30. 2016Isolating swings with percentage trend thresholds
By fieldTrend and channels181 readingsBy year1992115 readings
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