Whether you consider yourself a technical analyst or not, there are very few investing techniques that do not at least give a nod to the technical side of investing. Some investing styles use nothing but technical analysis, with their practitioners often claiming that they know nothing of stock fundamentals because all they need is in the charts. This segment of investing didn’t sprout from nothing. In this article, we will look at the men that pioneered the field of technical analysis. (See also: Technical Analysis.)

All Things Flow From Dow

Charles Dow occupies a huge place in the history of finance. He founded The Wall Street Journal – the benchmark by which all financial papers are measured – and, more importantly for our purpose, he created the Dow Jones Industrial Index. In doing so, Dow opened the door to technical analysis. Dow recorded the highs and lows of his average daily, weekly and monthly, correlating the patterns with the ebb and flow of the market. He would then write articles, always after the fact, pointing out how certain patterns explained and predicted previous market events.

However, Dow can’t take all – or even a majority of – the credit for the theory bearing his name. Dow Theory would have only acted as a hindsight confirmation of loose principals if it weren’t for William P. Hamilton. (See also: Giants of Finance: Charles Dow.)

First One Into the Water: William P. Hamilton

Dow Theory was a collection of market trends linked heavily to oceanic metaphors. The fundamental, long-term trend of four or more years was the tide of the market – either rising (bullish) or falling (bearish). This was followed by shorter-term waves that lasted between a week and a month. And, lastly, there were the splashes and tiny ripples of choppy water insignificant day-to-day fluctuations.

Hamilton used these measures in addition to a few rules – such as the railroad average and the industrial average confirming each other’s direction – to call bull and bear markets with laudable accuracy. Although he did call the 1929 crash too early (1927, 1928), he made a final appeal on Oct. 21, 1929, three days before the crash and mere weeks before his death at the age of 63.

The Practitioner: Robert Rhea

Robert Rhea took Dow Theory and turned it into a practical indicator for going long or short in the market. He literally wrote the book on the topic: “The Dow Theory” (1932). Rhea was successful at using the theory to call tops and bottoms – and able enough to profit from those calls. Very soon after mastering Dow Theory, Rhea didn’t need to trade on his knowledge. He only had to write it down.

After calling the market bottom in 1932 and a top in 1937, the fortunes made by subscribers to Rhea’s investment letter, Dow Theory Comments, brought in thousands more subscribers. As with Hamilton, however, Rhea’s life as a market prognosticator was short – he died in 1939. (See also: Dow Theory Tutorial.)

The Wizard: Edson Gould

Perhaps the most accurate forecaster with the longest track record, Edson Gould, was still making calls up to 1983 at the age of 81. Gould also made most of his money from writing newsletters rather than investing, selling subscriptions for $500 in 1930. He caught all of the major bull and bear market points, making several eerily accurate predictions, such as the Dow rising 400 points in a 20-year bull market, that the Dow would top 1,040 in 1973 and so on.

Gould used charts, market psychology and indicators including the Senti-Meter – the DJIA divided by the dividends per share of the companies. Gould was so good at his trade that he continued to make accurate calls from beyond the grave. Gould died in 1987, but in 1991, the Dow hit 3,000, as he’d predicted. At the time of his prediction in 1979, the Dow had yet to break 1,000.

[The work of these pioneers formed the foundation for a huge array of technical tools used by traders today to develop profitable trading strategies. To learn more, check out the Technical Analysis course on the Investopedia Academy, which includes interactive content and real-world examples to boost your trading skills.]

The Chartist: John Magee

John Magee wrote the bible of technical analysis, “Technical Analysis of Stock Trends” (1948). Magee was one of the first to trade solely on the stock price and its pattern on the historical charts. Magee charted everything: individual stocks, averages, trading volumes – basically anything that could be graphed. He then poured over these charts to identify broad patterns and specific shapes like weak triangles, flags, bodies, shoulders and so on.

Unfortunately for Magee, early on, he was better at looking after his clients than his own portfolio, often selling out in his own portfolio based on gut feelings despite strong hold signals from his charts. From his 40s to his death at 86, however, Magee was one of the most disciplined technical analysts around, refusing to even read a current newspaper lest it interfere with the signals of his charts. (For more, see: Analyzing Chart Patterns.)

The Omissions

There is bound to be some controversy with a list like this. Where is the infamous Jesse Livermore, the trader whose gut calls on price ticks are arguably the first successful technical trades? What about R. N. Elliott? What about WD Gann?

Well, Livermore did little in the area of theorizing and died broke. Elliott tweaked technical analysis with his own hypothesis, but his theories are difficult to test and even harder to trade – involving something of mysticism piled on top of numbers. Similarly, Gann’s lines, while seemingly useful in concept, are so sensitive to error that their practicality is questionable. Both of these men were purported to have made fortunes trading on their theories, but there is no solid record to back that up as there is for Livermore. Certainly no multi-million-dollar estate was left behind by either.

The Bottom Line

Dow, Hamilton, Rhea, Gould and Magee are on the main track of technical analysis, each carrying the theory and practice a little further. There are of course, many branching side paths that, while interesting detours, didn’t advance this main thrust. Every time an investor – fundamental or technical – talks about getting in low or picking entry and exit points, they are paying homage to these men and the techniques for which they laid the foundation. (See also: Introduction to Types of Trading: Technical Traders.)

Leonardo Pisano, nicknamed Fibonacci, was an Italian mathematician born in Pisa in the year 1170. His father Guglielmo Bonaccio worked at a trading post in Bugia, now called Béjaïa, a Mediterranean port in northeastern Algeria. As a young man, Fibonacci studied mathematics in Bugia, and during his extensive travels, he learned about the advantages of the Hindu-Arabic numeral system.

The Golden Ratio

In 1202, after returning to Italy, Fibonacci documented what he had learned in the “Liber Abaci“ (“Book of Abacus“). In the “Liber Abaci,” Fibonacci described the numerical series that is now named after him. In the Fibonacci sequence of numbers, after 0 and 1, each number is the sum of the two prior numbers. Hence, the sequence is as follows: 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144, 233, 377, 610 and so on, extending to infinity. Each number is approximately 1.618 times greater than the preceding number.

This value:1.618 is called Phi or the “Golden Ratio“. The Golden Ratio mysteriously appears frequently in the natural world, architecture, fine art, and biology. For example, the ratio has been observed in the Parthenon, in Leonardo da Vinci’s painting the Mona Lisa, sunflowers, rose petals, mollusk shells, tree branches, human faces, ancient Greek vases, and even the spiral galaxies of outer space.

Fibonacci Levels Used in the Financial Markets

In the context of trading, the numbers used in Fibonacci retracements are not numbers in Fibonacci’s sequence; instead, they are derived from mathematical relationships between numbers in the sequence. The basis of the “golden” Fibonacci ratio of 61.8% comes from dividing a number in the Fibonacci series by the number that follows it.

For example, 89/144 = 0.6180. The 38.2% ratio is derived from dividing a number in the Fibonacci series by the number two places to the right. For example: 89/233 = 0.3819. The 23.6% ratio is derived from dividing a number in the Fibonacci series by the number three places to the right. For example: 89/377 = 0.2360. 

Fibonacci retracement levels are depicted by taking high and low points on a chart and marking the key Fibonacci ratios of 23.6%, 38.2%, and 61.8% horizontally to produce a grid. These horizontal lines are used to identify possible price reversal points.

The 50% retracement level is normally included in the grid of Fibonacci levels that can be drawn using charting software. While the 50% retracement level is not based on a Fibonacci number, it is widely viewed as an important potential reversal level, notably recognized in Dow Theory and also in the work of W.D. Gann.

Fibonacci Retracement Levels as Trading Strategy

Fibonacci retracements are often used as part of a trend-trading strategy. In this scenario, traders observe a retracement taking place within a trend and try to make low-risk entries in the direction of the initial trend using Fibonacci levels. Traders using this strategy anticipate that a price has a high probability of bouncing from the Fibonacci levels back in the direction of the initial trend.

For example, on the EUR/USD daily chart below, we can see that a major downtrend began in May 2014 (point A). The price then bottomed in June (point B) and retraced upward to approximately the 38.2% Fibonacci retracement level of the down move (point C). 

In this case, the 38.2% level would have been an excellent place to enter a short position in order to capitalize on the continuation of the downtrend that started in May. There is no doubt that many traders were also watching the 50% retracement level and the 61.8% retracement level, but in this case, the market was not bullish enough to reach those points. Instead, EUR/USD turned lower, resuming the downtrend movement and taking out the prior low in a fairly fluid movement.

The likelihood of a reversal increases if there is a confluence of technical signals when the price reaches a Fibonacci level. Other popular technical indicators that are used in conjunction with Fibonacci levels include candlestick patterns, trendlines, volume, momentum oscillators, and moving averages. A greater number of confirming indicators in play equates to a more robust reversal signal.

Fibonacci retracements are used on a variety of financial instruments, including stocks, commodities, and foreign currency exchanges. They are also used on multiple timeframes. However, as with other technical indicators, the predictive value is proportional to the time frame used, with greater weight given to longer timeframes. For example, a 38.2% retracement on a weekly chart is a far more important technical level than a 38.2% retracement on a five-minute chart.

Using Fibonacci Extensions

While Fibonacci retracement levels can be used to forecast potential areas of support or resistance where traders can enter the market in hopes of catching the resumption of an initial trend, Fibonacci extensions can complement this strategy by giving traders Fibonacci-based profit targets. Fibonacci extensions consist of levels drawn beyond the standard 100% level and can be used by traders to project areas that make good potential exits for their trades in the direction of the trend. The major Fibonacci extension levels are 161.8%, 261.8% and 423.6%.

Let’s take a look at an example here, using the same EUR/USD daily chart:

Looking at the Fibonacci extension level drawn on the EUR/USD chart above, we can see that a potential price target for a trader holding a short position from the 38% retracement described earlier lies below at the 161.8% level, at 1.3195.

The Bottom Line

Fibonacci retracement levels often indicate reversal points with uncanny accuracy. However, they are harder to trade than they look in retrospect. These levels are best used as a tool within a broader strategy. Ideally, this strategy is one that looks for the confluence of several indicators to identify potential reversal areas offering low-risk, high-potential-reward trade entries.

Fibonacci trading tools, however, tend to suffer from the same problems as other universal trading strategies, such as the Elliott Wave theory. That said, many traders find success using Fibonacci ratios and retracements to place transactions within long-term price trends.

Fibonacci retracement can become even more powerful when used in conjunction with other indicators or technical signals. Investopedia Academy’s Technical Analysis course covers these indicators as well as how to transform patterns into actionable trading plans.