Prior to February 5th the market had gotten a bit complacent. It had one of the longest bull runs without a significant pullback in recent memory. All that bullishness led to low volatility and made investors lazy and less vigilant. But as we’ll see in the following article by Elliott Wave International market participants should have known better. The market can’t go straight up forever, it needs periods of consolidation to shake out the “weak hands” and build a more solid foundation as it climbs.