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Retracement and extension levels from any swing high and low.
Fibonacci retracements answer a narrow, practical question: after a strong move, how far back is a normal pull-back before the trend is in trouble? Drawing them by hand on a chart is easy to fudge. Calculating them from two explicit prices is not, which is why it is worth doing the arithmetic before you draw the lines.
Enter the swing high and swing low of the move you are analysing and choose its direction. The calculator returns the full retracement ladder from 23.6% to 78.6%, the extension targets from 127.2% to 423.6%, and the distance to each in pips.
Highest price of the move
Lowest price of the move
Swing range
86.8 pips
High − low = 0.00868
Golden ratio (61.8%)
1.08398
The level most traders watch for a continuation entry
Swing direction
Uptrend
Retracements fall back from the high; extensions project above it
| Level | Price | From high |
|---|---|---|
| 0.0% | 1.08934 | +0.0 |
| 23.6% | 1.08729 | -20.5 |
| 38.2% | 1.08602 | -33.2 |
| 50.0% | 1.08500 | -43.4 |
| 61.8% | 1.08398 | -53.6 |
| 78.6% | 1.08252 | -68.2 |
| 100.0% | 1.08066 | -86.8 |
| Level | Price | From high |
|---|---|---|
| 127.2% | 1.09170 | +23.6 |
| 138.2% | 1.09266 | +33.2 |
| 161.8% | 1.09470 | +53.6 |
| 200.0% | 1.09802 | +86.8 |
| 261.8% | 1.10338 | +140.4 |
| 361.8% | 1.11206 | +227.2 |
| 423.6% | 1.11743 | +280.9 |
Calculations use PipDig's static demo rate table (snapshot 2026-08-01). These are illustrative mid prices for education only — they are not live quotes, and your broker's spread, commission and swap will change the real result.
Both ladders are built from one number: the range between your swing high and swing low. Every level is that range multiplied by a ratio and then measured from one end of the swing or the other.
In an uptrend the move ran from the low to the high, so a pull-back is measured down from the high: the 61.8% retracement is the high minus 61.8% of the range. In a downtrend the move ran from the high to the low and a bounce is measured up from the low. At a ratio of 0 the level is the end of the swing, and at 1 it is the start — which is why 100% and 0% are included in the table as the swing points themselves.
Extensions use ratios greater than 1 and are measured from the opposite end of the swing. In an uptrend the 161.8% extension sits at the swing low plus 1.618 times the range, which places it above the high — a projected target if the trend continues. The two ladders are complements of one another: an extension at ratio r is the same price as a retracement at 1 − r, so the extension at 100% lands exactly on the swing high where the retracement ladder begins, and the levels join without a gap.
Fibonacci levels have no mechanical link to price. Their reputation rests on being widely watched — enough traders place orders around 61.8% that reactions there become partly self-fulfilling — and on the fact that any tool drawing seven horizontal lines across a recent range will look prescient in hindsight. Use them to organise a plan, not to justify one, and always demand confirmation from something else before acting.
A retracement level is worth acting on when something independent agrees with it: a prior swing high, a round number, a moving average, or a level from the pivot point calculator. When you find that overlap, mark your invalidation point just beyond it and let the position size calculator decide how large the trade should be.
Uptrend (swing low → swing high)
retracement = high − (high − low) x ratio · extension = low + (high − low) x ratioRetracements pull back inside the swing; extensions project above the high for ratios greater than 1.
Downtrend (swing high → swing low)
retracement = low + (high − low) x ratio · extension = high − (high − low) x ratioThe same formulas mirrored. The ladders are complements — an extension at ratio r is the same price as a retracement at 1 − r — so they join at the swing points without a gap.
Worked example — EUR/USD swing 1.0800 to 1.0900, uptrend
61.8% retracement = 1.0900 − 0.0100 x 0.618 = 1.08382The 161.8% extension of the same swing is 1.0800 + 0.0100 x 1.618 = 1.09618.
They are derived from the Fibonacci sequence, where each number is the sum of the two before it. Divide any number by the one after it and the result converges on 0.618; skip one and you get 0.382; skip two and you get 0.236. The 1.618 used for extensions is the reciprocal of 0.618, the golden ratio. The 50% level is not a Fibonacci number at all — it comes from Dow theory and was absorbed into the toolkit because markets frequently retrace about half a move.
The 61.8% level gets the most attention, with 38.2% and 50% close behind. A shallow retracement to 38.2% suggests strong momentum in the original direction; a deep one to 78.6% suggests the move is being seriously questioned and that a full reversal is possible. Rather than treating any single level as a signal, treat the 38.2%-61.8% band as the zone where a continuation entry is worth looking for.
Use the most recent clean, obvious impulse move — one that any trader looking at the same chart would identify without argument. Anchor to the extreme wick highs and lows, not to candle bodies, and stay on one timeframe. The most common mistake is hunting for a swing whose retracement levels happen to land where you already wanted to buy; if you have to search for the swing, the levels are not meaningful.
Extensions project targets beyond the end of the original move, which makes them useful for setting take-profit levels once a retracement entry has worked. The 127.2% and 161.8% levels are the most commonly used. Combine them with pivot points or prior structural highs and lows: an extension that coincides with an existing resistance level is a far better target than one sitting in open space.