波浪理论是证券技术分析的主要理论之一，由艾略特（Ralph Nelson Elliott）提出。一些交易员用以分析金融市场周期，预测市场趋势。拉尔夫·纳尔逊·艾略特（1871-1948），专业会计师，于1930年提出分析方法，认为市场价格的走势具有特定的形态。1938年，艾略特发表《波浪理论》，正式提出此理论，并在1946年，他最后的主要著作《自然法则：宇宙的秘密》中进行了最为详细的阐述。艾略特写道“人受制于规律过程，关于人的活动的计算能被投射到未来的某个阶段，这一点我确信无疑”。波浪理论的实证有效性仍然充满争议。

The Elliott Wave Principle is a form of technical analysis that traders use to analyze financial market cycles and forecast market trends by identifying extremes in investor psychology, highs and lows in prices, and other collective factors. Ralph Nelson Elliott (1871–1948), a professional accountant, discovered the underlying social principles and developed the analytical tools in the 1930s. He proposed that market prices unfold in specific patterns, which practitioners today call Elliott waves, or simply waves. Elliott published his theory of market behavior in the book The Wave Principle in 1938, summarized it in a series of articles in Financial World magazine in 1939, and covered it most comprehensively in his final major work, Nature’s Laws: The Secret of the Universe in 1946. Elliott stated that "because man is subject to rhythmical procedure, calculations having to do with his activities can be projected far into the future with a justification and certainty heretofore unattainable." The empirical validity of the Elliott Wave Principle remains the subject of debate.