Gann Theory can be described as the study of pattern, price, and time relationships and how these relationships affect the market.  Gann Theory looks at pattern, price, and time as the key important elements in forecasting the future movement of the market.  While each element has its own characteristics, each also has a unique, overlapping quality.

The focus of Gann Theory is to find the interlocking relationship between these three primary indicators of changes in trend and market direction.  In other words, in certain instances a pattern has a large influence on the market, while at other times price and time exert their dominance.  It is the balance of these three elements, especially price and time that creates the best trading opportunities that can lead to more success in the market.  Gann Theory helps the trader to determine the best combinations of pattern, price and time to initiate successful trades.  While trades can be triggered by each element individually, a trader who weights his signal too much toward one of these elements may experience a large number of losses, whereas a trader who is patient enough to wait for a proper balancing of pattern, price and time may experience a large number of looses, whereas a trader who is patient enough to wait for a proper balancing of pattern, price, and time may experience more success.

Pattern study consists of the proper construction of minor, intermediate, and main trend-indicator swing charts and closing-price reversal patterns.  Price study consists of Gann angle analysis and percentage retracements.  Time study looks at swing timing, cycle timing, and historical dates.  The combination of these there time factors helps the trader decide when and where to buy or sell.  In this book, I describe techniques that help the trader determine how to discover these elements through proper chart construction and how they are related in trading activity.

While there is much material available about Gann Theory, very little of it explains how to put the Gann tools to practical use in a trading system.  I used to think that this sort of material was valuable until I placed a stop according to some huge astrophysical law.  In other words, information about the origins of cycles and price and time relationships is very interesting, but if it cannot be converted to practical use in a trading system then I consider it essentially useless. Research that reveals that a sixty-year cycle bottom is due in 1998 plus or minus two years does not help you trade soybeans profitably today.  This is why you have to focus your attention on the market and what pattern, price, and time are telling you at the present.