Cyclic Analysis: A Dynamic Approach to Technical Analysis

“Cyclic Analysis: A Dynamic Approach to Technical Analysis” by J.M. Hurst is a landmark work that reshaped modern trading and market research. First published in 1974 and republished by Traders Press, this book distills Hurst’s groundbreaking discoveries about the cyclical nature of stock and commodity price movements.

Hurst, a physicist and aerospace engineer, was among the first to apply digital computer technology to financial markets. His decades of research—spanning over 20,000 hours of computational analysis—revealed that prices are not random, but instead follow predictable cycles and wave structures. From this research, he developed the Wave Theory of Price Action and the practical methodology known as Cyclic Analysis.

In this book, Hurst explains how market prices can be modeled as the sum of interacting wave functions with consistent relationships of period, amplitude, and phase. He introduces concepts such as envelopes, trendlines (valid trendlines or VTLs), and Future Lines of Demarcation (FLDs) to forecast both the timing and magnitude of price reversals.

More than a theoretical framework, Cyclic Analysis provides traders and investors with a complete, rule-based trading system: from identifying cycles, planning trades, and setting logical stop-loss levels, to managing transactions through cyclical turning points. Hurst shows how cycles relate to fundamental events, economic trends, and even natural rhythms, revealing why markets often appear random yet follow underlying laws of motion.

This book is essential reading for traders, analysts, and portfolio managers seeking to go beyond conventional charting and understand the deeper structure of market movements. Hurst’s pioneering insights remain highly influential, inspiring generations of cycle analysts such as Walter Bressert, Peter Eliades, Brian Millard, and John Bollinger.

✅ What You’ll Learn:

• The Wave Theory of Price Action and its eight basic principles of cyclicality.
• How to identify and measure market cycles in stocks and commodities.
• The role of harmonicity, proportionality, and synchronicity in price waves.
• Practical application of envelopes, VTLs (valid trendlines), and FLDs.
• Techniques for predicting price reversal timing and magnitude.
• How fundamental events interact with cyclical forces.
• Steps to design a complete cycle-based trading and investment system.

💡 Key Benefits:

• Discover how markets follow orderly and predictable wave cycles.
• Learn scientifically grounded tools for timing entries and exits.
• Manage risk with Hurst’s risk-limit logic and stop-loss framework.
• Enhance trading performance by anticipating turning points and pseudo-trends.
• Gain insights from the original pioneer of cycle analysis.

👤 Who This Book Is For:

• Intermediate to Advanced traders seeking to master cycle-based technical analysis.
• Investors looking to time markets more effectively using empirical, rules-based methods.
• Analysts and professionals interested in the scientific foundations of market cycles.

📚 Table of Contents:

• Introduction
• The Evolution of Technical Analysis
• Cyclic Law in Financial Markets
• Wave Functions and Relationships in Price Movement
• The Interaction Between Waves and Fundamental Events
• The Quantification of Trends Using Wave Concepts
• Predicting Price Reversal Timing
• Predicting the Extent of Price Moves
• The Cascade Principle
• Risk-Limit Logic
• A Complete Trading System
• Conclusion
• References