2017issue C0930-34
Gann angles, scale dependence, and the gap between legend and method
Gann angles are nine rise-run lines that count as support or resistance only when the chart is scaled so a 1x1 rise sits at 45 degrees. The price unit is left open, a change of scale breaks the geometry, and printed forecasts plus unfootnoted success stories do not establish the construction as a verified system.
- Gann angles are paired rise-run ratios from 1x8 through 8x1. The 1x1 line is the primary 45-degree balance of one price unit per one time unit only when the chart is scaled so that equal intervals produce that slope.
- Each named angle is presented as support or resistance only on that scale. What counts as one price unit is left open, so the same angle can be drawn many ways on the same market, and a unit of 1 is impractical on a high-priced average such as the Dow Jones Industrial Average.
- Switching from arithmetic to logarithmic scale, or otherwise changing the scale, is enough to break the geometric construction that modern Gann-angle practice relies on.
- A 1936 claim that the Dow Jones Industrial Average would never again trade at 386, and a 1949 forecast of calamity in 1951-1952, were contradicted by later prices. Unfootnoted success stories are not independent evidence, and the archive treats modern practice as a later adaptation rather than a verified system.
How the angles are specified
Gann angles are specified as paired rise-run ratios from 1x8 through 8x1. The 1x1 line is treated as the primary 45-degree balance of one price unit per one time unit when the chart is scaled so that equal time and price intervals produce that slope.
Each of those nine angles is presented as a potential support or resistance line only if drawn on a chart whose scale makes a 1x1 rise actually equal 45 degrees.
The price unit is left open
What counts as one price unit is left open. Point, percentage, and other choices remain available, so the same named angle can be drawn many different ways on the same market.
A unit of 1 is impractical on a high-priced average such as the Dow Jones Industrial Average. That scaling problem is identified as a fundamental flaw of this form of analysis.
A change of scale breaks the construction
Switching a chart from arithmetic to logarithmic scale, or otherwise changing the scale, is enough to break the geometric construction that modern Gann-angle practice relies on.
What the 1936 text does and does not show
A 1936 primary text is described as offering trading rules and some incorrect forecasts. The charts attributed to that author in the book do not display Gann angles or Gann fans.
The archive account concludes that modern Gann-angle practice is easily disproved, internally contradictory, and often unlike the original writings. The angles should be treated as a later adaptation rather than as a verified trading system.
Printed forecasts and unverified success stories
A 1936 printed claim that the Dow Jones Industrial Average would never again trade at 386 was later contradicted when that average moved through 386 in the fall of 1954. The level 386 had been the 1929 peak.
A 1949 printed forecast of economic calamity and a bear market in 1951-1952 did not match the subsequent record. From the start of 1950 through the end of 1953 the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose about 40 percent.
Widely repeated success-rate and dollar-conversion stories attached to the method are presented as unfootnoted or sourced to a single questionable outlet. They do not function as independent evidence that the angle construction works.
All readings on this track · 34 readings
- 1984Range grid to sideways break in 1984 gold
- 1985When Gann lines, Gann angles, and a Fibonacci retracement coincide
- 1987Evaluating angular cycle overlays on independent stock swings
- 1988Multi-scale Elliott counts with Gann and Fibonacci confluence
- 1988Gann angles as hand-scaled chart geometry
- 1989A time, price, and pattern filter on one platinum sequence
- 1989Gann angles on point-and-figure grids
- 1990Gann price-time clusters for Elliott retracements
- 1990Channel regimes and Gann angle hinges
- 1990A gold campaign log as a trade procedure
- 1991A fourth Treasury bond resistance test as one time-price hypothesis
- 1991An eclipse calendar as a testable cycle scaffold
- 1992Gann-angle intersections and half-range zones
- 1998Wave and ratio self-similarity as a testable chart hypothesis
- 2000Constructing Gann fan angles from swing extremes
- 2002Combining Fibonacci retracement, Gann angles, and the moving average in FX
- 2002Halfway retracement as a trend confirmation filter
- 2006Volume distribution, Fibonacci extensions, and Gann angles on one downswing
- 2007Constructing Gann fans as currency support and resistance
- 2010ABC completion, wave-two windows, and Gann ratios
- 2010Constructing a Gann, Fibonacci, and decade-scale reversal cluster
- 2010Gann angles as timed tests that still need structure and RSI
- 2010Gann angles heritage is not a signal
- 2010Gann-fan time windows confirmed by Elliott-wave position
- 2010Gann angles as a repeatable chart hypothesis
- 2011Wave and ratio overlays as confirmation, not forecasts
- 2013Gold wave four as a time and price cluster check
- 2014A case study that separates cycle forecasts from Gann and Elliott readings
- 2014Relative charting, Gann angles, and trendline breakouts
- 2016Gann fans and a 2016 long-wave case as checkpoints, not forecasts
- 2017Gann angles, scale dependence, and the gap between legend and method
- 2017Gann angles as overlay, not original practice
- 2018Combine Gann angles, oscillator zones, and a protective stop
- 2020Confirming Gann hi-lo swings with ADX and stochastics