Subtract the price at swing low $1830 from previous swing high $2980 to get $1150. Multiply $1150 by 1.618 to get $1860.7. Add that $1860.7 to the $1830 low to get the 1.618 first Fibonacci extension of $3690.7 then repeat for the higher extensions.
Got it. So why do people think it works? What is the theory? Empirical based on backtesting across numerous markets?
Fibonacci retracements and extensions are based on the
Fibonacci sequence of numbers. The Golden Ratio 1.618 is found everywhere in nature and also bitcoin charts. Traders have been using Fibonacci for decades because it has been shown to work with markets. Back in January 2015 since I knew the bitcoin low was $152 at that time and the previous ATH was $1163 I could predict a
possible future bitcoin price of $2798 from the 2.618 Fibonacci extension. Do you see how Fibonacci can be useful now? In this case it could have helped a smart trader avoid taking profits too early.
Yeah, I'm familiar with Fibonacci and his work, just not as applied to markets.
If you tell me this happens to be observed in formal empirical backtesting, I can believe it. But only as applied to those markets. If you tell me it is anything else, I am not so inclined to believe it.
I've seen some spectacular (so-called) Bitcoin Fibonacci prediction fails. Accordingly, without (again) formal empirical backtesting against specifically Bitcoin, I am not inclined to put any faith in it. The fact that this method (is claimed to) work with more typical markets such as stocks and/or bonds, coupled with the knowledge that cryptocurrency is very uncorrelated with any other asset class, makes me further disinclined to believe its applicability to this market.
Any way you look at it, if it works at all in any market, I am inclined to beleive it says more about crowd behavior than any real fundamental mechanism.
Long story short, until I see some backtesting against Bitcoin, I am unlikely to put any faith in it whatsoever.
But now at least I know where the mapping of the Fib Numbers to predicted levels come from. Thanks.