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Lesson 02 · the name, explained

Degrees & phases.

Two words, two frameworks, and the reason this whole thing is called Degree & Phase.

← Learn · Lesson 02 of 11

The name isn't decoration. It's the method in two words. Degree is how big a wave is. Phase is where you are in the cycle. Get both and you've placed a market in size and in time, which is most of the job.

Degree: the size of a wave

The five-up, three-down shape from Lesson 01 shows up on a five-minute chart and on a fifty-year chart. The big waves are built out of smaller waves of the exact same shape, and those out of smaller ones still. Degree is just the size label you hang on a wave so you know which one you're trading.

1 2 3 4 5 i ii iii iv v wave 1 is its own five, one degree smaller
Self-similar, all the way down. Wave 1 of the big move (teal) is itself a complete five-wave move (amber) one degree smaller, and each of those would break into five smaller still. Naming the degree is how you keep from confusing a two-day wiggle with a two-year trend. The scale names run from Grand Supercycle (decades) down to Subminuette (minutes), and yes, that top name is where "Degree & Phase" gets its ring.

Phase: where you are in the cycle

Degree tells you the size. Phase tells you the moment. A market cycle runs through four of them, and this is where the second framework (Wyckoff) comes in: accumulation (big money quietly buying at a bottom), markup (the trend everyone eventually notices), distribution (big money quietly selling at a top), and markdown (the decline). The Elliott count tells you the shape; the phase tells you which part of the story you're standing in.

Elliott

Degree

The scale of a wave. Same pattern, nested from minutes to decades. Answers: how big is this move?

Wyckoff

Phase

The stage of the cycle: accumulation, markup, distribution, markdown. Answers: where in the story are we?

Why it's the name

Most sites teach these two frameworks in separate rooms. We read them together (degree for size, phase for timing) because a wave count without a phase read is half a picture. That fusion is the edge, and it's the name.

Phase gets its own full lesson later (Wyckoff, Lesson 06), where you'll learn to spot the quiet ranges where the big money actually positions. For now: whenever you see a call on this site, it's answering both questions at once: how big, and where in the cycle.