Primary Degree
Primary degree waves typically last months to a few years. They are labeled with circled numbers for motive waves and circled letters for corrective waves. This is the degree that long-term investors and fund managers track most closely. A Primary wave move can define an entire bull or bear market phase within a larger Cycle degree trend. When financial news talks about "the bull market that started in March 2020," they are roughly describing a Primary degree advance. These waves are visible on weekly charts and subdivide into Intermediate degree waves. Getting the Primary degree count right gives you the big picture. If you know you are in Primary Wave 3, you stay long and buy dips. If you are in Primary Wave C of a correction, you know the trend is down and rallies are selling opportunities.
The rally in the Nasdaq from March 2020 to late 2021 could be counted as a Primary degree wave. It lasted roughly 20 months and moved thousands of points. Within it, you could count five Intermediate degree waves. A Primary Wave 2 correction might then last 6 to 12 months, retracing 38.2% to 61.8% of the entire Primary Wave 1 advance. Long-term portfolio managers use this degree to decide major allocation shifts.