Fibonacci Price Extension Levels

by - Bill Poulos

In an uptrend, the general idea is to take profits on a long trade at a Fibonacci Price Extension Resistance Level. The Price Extension Levels can be applied to the price bar chart of any market by clicking on a significant Swing Low and dragging the cursor to the most recent Swing High. Then by clicking on the Swing High and back down to the retracement Swing Low and clicking there. This will display each of the Extension Levels showing both the ratio and corresponding price level. Let’s take a look at some examples of markets in an uptrend. The same points made by these examples are equally applicable to markets in a downtrend.


Example 5:
Here we plotted the Fibonacci Price Extension Levels by clicking on the Swing Low at about $38.20 and dragged the cursor to the Swing High at about $47.67 and then down to the retracement Swing Low. You can see the resultant levels plotted by the software. Now the expectation is that if the market continues higher it will find resistance at one of the Fibonacci Levels, because traders will be placing sell orders at these levels to take profits on there long trades.


Example 5.1:
Now let’s look at what actually happened after the retracement Swing Low occurred. The market rallied making new highs pausing at the 0.382 level and again at the 1.000 level after a retracement down it rallied again going right through the 1.382 and 1.618 levels. Taking profits at the 0.382 level would have been premature, but taking profits at the 1.000 level would have made a nice trade.


Example 6:
Again, the Fibonacci Price Extension Levels were plotted on the chart in the same manner as described in Example 5. Again, we are looking for the market to continue higher before finding resistance at the Fibonacci Levels.

Example 6.1:
Now let’s look at what actually happened. The market rallied, making new highs and pausing between the 0.382 level and the 0.618 level, and then continued higher. This up move could well continue up to at least the 1.000 level. Taking profits at the 0.382 level would have been premature and only time will tell if taking profits at the 0.618 level was the optimal place to exit the long trade.

Example 7:
Here’s another example. Will the market continue higher to one of the Fibonacci Price Extension Levels?

Example 7.1:
Well in this case the market found resistance at the 0.382 level which would have been the place to take profits on any long trades.

Example 8:
Here’s one more example.

Example 8.1:
Like the last example, the market found resistance at the 0.382 level which would have been the place to take profits on any long trades.

You can see from these examples that the market often finds at least temporary resistance at the Fibonacci Extension Levels - not always, but often. As in the examples of the Retracement Levels, it should be apparent that there are a few problems to deal with here as well. First, there is no way of knowing which level will provide resistance. The 0.382 level was a good level to cover any long trades in two of the examples, but in the other examples taking profits at that level would have been premature. Another problem is determining which Swing

Low to start from in creating the Fibonacci Extension Levels. One way is from the last Swing Low as we did in the examples; another is from the lowest Swing Low of the past 30 days. Again, the point is that there is no one right way to do it, and consequently it becomes a guessing game.
Alone, Fibonacci Levels will not make you rich. However, Fibonacci Levels are definitely useful as part of an effective trading method that includes other analysis and techniques. You see, the key to an effective trading system is to integrate a few indicators (not too many) that are applied in a way that is not obvious to most observers. All successful traders know it’s how you use and integrate the indicators (including Fibonacci) that makes the difference. The lesson learned here is that Fibonacci Levels can be a useful tool, but never enter or exit a trade based on Fibonacci Levels alone.


Good Trading,