Beautiful Pictures from the Gallery of Phinance [Hardcover]

Robert R. Prechter Jr. (Author), New Classics Library (Illustrator), Inc. (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 12, 2003

Economists have long insisted the market is "efficient" and "random," with no relationship between one move and the next. This logic suggests we can learn nothing from studying the stock market's past, and that its direction is impossible to forecast.

So you can imagine how millions of investors would feel if they could see the striking similarities between a recent price chart of the Dow Jones Industrial Average -- and one from over 70 years ago.

Robert Prechter illustrates this and more in his new book, Beautiful Pictures From the Gallery of Phinance. Chart after chart displays stunning relationships in both price and time that appear repeatedly over the decades -- and all according to a specific series of numbers called the Fibonacci sequence.

The vast web of market similarities Prechter exposes in Beautiful Pictures presents the opportunity to understand patterns. Those who take advantage of that opportunity will discover a thrilling new market perspective.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Founder and president of Elliott Wave International, Robert Prechter has been publishing market commentary since 1976. He began his career with the Merrill Lynch Market Analysis Department in New York. In 1984, Bob set a record in the options division of the U.S. Trading Championship with a real-money trading account. In December 1989, Financial News Network (now CNBC) named him "Guru of the Decade." Bob served for nine years on the Board of the Market Technicians Association and in 1990-1991 served as its president. During the 1990s, he expanded his firm to provide analysis for institutions on every major financial market in the world. Bob has written 13 books on finance, most notably the two-volume set, Socionomics – The Science of History and Social Prediction. His recent title, Conquer the Crash - You Can Survive and Prosper in a Deflationary Crash and Depression, was a New York Times and Wall Street Journal business best-seller. In 1999, Bob received the CSTA’s first annual A.J. Frost Memorial Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Development of Technical Analysis. In 2003, Traders Library granted him its Hall of Fame award.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 248 pages
• Publisher: New Classics Library (September 12, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0932750605
• ISBN-13: 978-0932750600
• Product Dimensions: 11.2 x 8.8 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,046,559 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

For Robert Prechter's full biography, please visit www.robertprechter.com.

Robert R. Prechter, Jr., is a financial and social theorist and a market analyst. He has written 14 books. Elliott Wave Principle with A.J. Frost (1978) forecasted the great bull market of the 1980s and 1990s. Conquer the Crash (2002, 2009), a New York Times bestseller, predicted the current global financial crisis in detail. Prechter's two-book set Socionomics (2003) shows how his social and financial theories weave together with his market forecasting approach: Waves of group mood determine the tenor of society's actions, from more inward, dark, bearish expressions to more outward, sunnier and bullish endeavors. Prechter's newest website, www.socionomics.net, explains his socionomics hypothesis and how it applies to various human arenas.
Prechter has dedicated much of his career to employing and enhancing R. N. Elliott's financial pricing model called the Wave Principle. He began his career as a Technical Market Specialist with the Merrill Lynch Market Analysis Department. Prechter is President of Elliott Wave International, the world's largest market forecasting firm. EWI serves institutional and private investors around the world.

Financial Theory
Prechter's theory of financial causality proposes a separation between finance and economics. In the economic realm, goods and services have utility value and mostly are priced rationally via the Law of Supply and Demand. This leads to rough equilibrium. In the financial realm, investments are priced non-rationally, with changes fueled by uncertain future demand and according to the Law of Patterned Herding. This approach generates speculation and unceasing dynamism. Only once the analyst recognizes this divergence can he properly view financial pricing, Prechter asserts.

Socionomics
Prechter's theory of socionomics says that trends and events across a broad spectrum of human interaction are impelled by a common immutable force: social mood. With its claim that mood impels action and events, socionomics is unique; most social theories posit the reverse.
The Wave Principle
As a market analyst, Prechter applies the Wave Principle, a financial pricing model identified and described by Ralph Nelson Elliott in the 1930s. According to this model, financial market prices develop in a series of five- and three-wave forms and produce a fractal. Prechter has written and/or edited a dozen books on the Wave Principle. Prechter began applying the Wave Principle to financial markets in 1972. Prechter's firm, Elliott Wave International, analyzes every major financial market in the world, 24 hours a day, according to the Wave Principle.

Awards
Using the Wave Principle, Prechter won the U.S. Trading Championship in 1984 with a then-record 444% return in four months in a monitored, real-money options trading account. Prechter has won numerous speaking, timing and publishing awards, and in 1989, he was named "Guru of the Decade" by the Financial News Network (now CNBC). In 1999, Prechter received the Canadian Society of Technical Analysts' first annual A.J. Frost Memorial Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Development of Technical Analysis. In 2003, Traders Library granted him its Hall of Fame award.

Miscellaneous
Prechter was born in 1949. He attended Yale University on a full scholarship. In 1979, Prechter founded Elliott Wave International and began publishing monthly market analysis under the masthead, The Elliott Wave Theorist. He was a nine-year member the Market Technicians Association's board and was the MTA's President in 1990-1991. Prechter employs a staff of analysts who apply the Wave Principle, real-time, to every major market in the world. He recently created the Socionomics Institute, which elucidates socionomics, and he underwrites the Socionomics Foundation, which is dedicated to supporting socionomics-related academic research. Elliott Wave Principle has been translated into a dozen languages, and Conquer the Crash was a New York Times bestseller. Prechter has made multiple speeches and media appearances around the globe. In 2008, the Georgia state legislature asked Prechter to testify before the legislature's Joint Economic Committee regarding the developing real estate crisis. Bob is a member of the Triple Nine Society, the Shakespeare Oxford Society and the Shakespeare Fellowship.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding work, December 20, 2003

By 

G. Thompson (Missouri, United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Beautiful Pictures from the Gallery of Phinance (Hardcover)

This book is exactly what the Elliott Wave and Socionomics community has been needing for a long time; Beautiful Pictures is a book completely dedicated to Fibonacci relationships in the market regarding time and price during the entire move from 1932 to the market top in 2000.
My only complaint with the book was that I wished the time span covered would've started farther back than 1932 or so. It would've been great to see the entire stock history of the 20th century charted in all its perfect Fibonacci splendor.
After reading this book, perhaps more people will realize that the market has a life of its own and follows the same patterns of growth and decay as nature.

5.0 out of 5 stars Don't trust 1-star reviewer, May 13, 2009

By 

Thanapat Jindavanich - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Beautiful Pictures from the Gallery of Phinance (Hardcover)

The clear evident is Nasdaq Index which was the real deal of the tech bubble. We can see that eventhough Dow surpassed Y2K peak, but Nasdaq never did that or even S&P 500 went beyound its old high only by a little. DJ 30 has a flaw with its indexing method,which is lower cap stock with higher price can move index more than bigger cap stock with low price (look at GE, MSFT they never make it back to Y2000 peak). I think the 1-star reviewer here didn't read any book of Prechter at all.

Btw, information in this book provides very good examples for reader how elliott wave and fibonacci can be used to project the market and stock. Thanks.

1 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Avoid this book, and any other book authored by Prechter, September 6, 2007

By 

Rod - See all my reviews

This review is from: Beautiful Pictures from the Gallery of Phinance (Hardcover)

Prechters view is markets peaked in wave 5 in year 2000.
Never called the bottom in 2002, and stated the
high of year 2000 would not be surpassed.
Well 7 years later the DOW has indeed surpassed the year 2000 high!
High of 2000 was ~12000, today it is nearly ~14000 !!

Listening to his advice would cost one dearly.
Not only missing out on the recent market rise, but also constantly
pushing one to take a bearish stance against the market during the
entire rise over the past 5 years, while the market was rising!