A three-peaks-and-a-domed-house chart is not a complete timing model

A picture of three peaks is not the whole tool

The three-peaks-and-a-domed-house geometry is presented as a tool for locating and timing cyclical and secular bull-market highs, not only as a standalone picture of three peaks. The span from the first peak to the third is specified as typically eight months, never shorter than six months and never longer than 10 months.

After the third peak, the formation requires a separating-decline. That drop is a three-wave down-up-down move that finishes below one or both of the retracements that followed the first two peaks. TradersWeek editorial reading: a chart that only shows three peaks has not yet completed the timing sequence.

Wave-counting locates the later origin

Wave-counting labels the down-up-down structure of the separating-decline so the origin of later counts can be located. In the 2010 case, wave 1 of that decline can be read as ending on the May 6 flash crash, with a bounce into May 12 and a final drop into May 25, June 8, or possibly July 2.

Base-building comes before the first-floor-wall

Before the first-floor-wall advance, a base of two tests of the low must form. That base-building step is required before the next sustained advance can be counted as underway. If the base is treated as symmetrical, the count starts from the second test.

The standard-count can still be early

The standard-count from the origin of the next advance to the bull-market high is seven months and 10 days, or 221 to 224 days. Counting 221 to 224 days from an August 26, 2010 second test produced an april-target of April 4-7, 2011. Other interval work later treated that window as too early.

A long-term-interval is a separate check

A long-term-interval search begins with a 15-year, two-month rule of thumb and can span from 15 years to 15 years 11 months. From a July 23, 1996 origin that search points to July or September 2011 rather than April.

TradersWeek editorial reading: pattern-recognition in this workflow means comparing an explicit count or interval against later price action, rather than treating the geometry as a standalone forecast. The april-target was consistent with the standard-count and still too early once the longer window was applied.

A delayed decline is a sideways-movement

When an advance finishes at the appointed time but the next decline is delayed, the intervening action is classified as a sideways-movement. That stage is a sharp break, a recovery near the old high, and roughly flat net progress while the market regroups.

TradersWeek editorial reading: the required base, the longer interval, and any pause after the appointed high are separate, checkable stages. The same chart can produce a premature target if those stages are collapsed into the first recognizable picture of three peaks.