Just my two cents. Personally I like to use elliott wave in concert with other indicators like MACD and On Balance Volume and Moving averages. As one of many studies as opposed to the end all for determining direction.

The perfect example is Natural Gas. The "pros" at Elliott wave international have indicated that the last run up was an A, B, C and that new lows are coming. Others have said 1, 2 1, 2. with 3 up now starting.

In this market, not only are the Daily chart momentum indicators pointing up, but now the weekly is and the Monthly has been. And if you look at natural gas now, it looks like there is an upward breakout happening right now. The ABC has not yet been negated, but the other indicators show that that might be incorrect. So the "alternate: count may now be in force.

I just think in terms of exact, you can't just look at elliott wave alone.

Lastly, exact for me also means using the exact rules. For example, if a wave 4 happens to overlap a wave 1, using "exact" elliott wave rules, that is no longer impulsive because a 4 cannot overlap a 1. However some might say that it does overlap but it looks close. And that is where I usually opt for the exact elliott rule because in these exception cases, that is where people try and fit the waves to their opinion instead of reading what is there.

Well more like 10 cents, but just my take And being a software developer by trade who happens to trade options, that sound real cool