Minute Degree
Minute degree waves typically last hours to days. They sit one level below Minor degree in the hierarchy. Day traders and short-term swing traders use this degree to time precise entries and exits. You spot them on hourly and 4-hour charts where each swing lasts a few hours to a couple of trading sessions. Labeling conventions use circled numerals for motive waves and circled lowercase letters for corrective waves. In practice, most charting platforms use Roman numerals with circles or brackets as substitutes. Minute degree is where you start to see market microstructure influencing wave shapes. News events, economic releases, and session opens can create sharp turns at this degree. Counting Minute waves accurately requires more screen time but gives you tight risk-to-reward setups.
On a 1-hour chart of gold, Minute Wave i runs from $1,950 to $1,965 over 6 hours. Minute Wave ii pulls back to $1,956 over the next 3 hours. Minute Wave iii surges to $1,985 over 8 hours. A day trader spots the Wave ii low and enters long with a stop below $1,950 (the start of Wave i), targeting the Wave iii extension at 161.8% of Wave i, which is approximately $1,980.