IMO the Elliott Wave is more like a fancy trendline.
You could also use the Blancmange curve or the Weierstrass function.
At best one would enumerate all such possible curves and iterate over them until the best match for the existing data is found.
It's just where it's coming from, an Economist not a mathematician why it is so popular among some people, like any fringe. So they all stick with it instead looking for something that would result in a more systematic approach.
A major critique point is that any wave theory now lacks an indicator of it's reliability over time, that would be the most important improvement so you can hedge your risk accordingly.
But in the end, breakout from a stable condition is a non-linear phenomena and thus inherently prone to chaos.
To put this into perspective: A trade of just 0.1 btc at a certain point can result in the market shoot up 20% or drop 30% one second later.
