Customer Reviews

Fibonacci Applications and Strategies for Traders

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Fibonacci lived in the Renaissance, and Elliot in the 1930's. One would think that a writer could do a decent job of explaining their theories by now, or at least, for a $60 retail price tag, hire an editor or professional writer to make his observations comprehensible.

This work suffers from a lack of both. After a long bit of hocus-pocus about Fibonacci numbers (complete with nautilis pictures and sunflowers), the author launches into Elliot wave analysis, gives a lot of assorted details about it, and then attempts to show how the amplitude and time of waves might or might not correspond to Fibonacci numbers.

It is hard to say why a bad book is bad. Fisher starts by not really stating what Elliot's principles were -- the reader comes into the middle of a movie. He then begins talking at random about exceptions and special cases, unfortunately interspersed with just the wrong information. He shows Finbonacci spirals imposed on stock charts with inadequate explanation of how they are created, how they might be used *if* they work, and no fathomable discussion of the intersections (and non-intersections) of the stock chart with the spiral.

I started life as a math major at a prominent university, and I can tell a good practical mathematics text when I see one. This is not one. It is a poorly organized hodgepodge of ideas, often inadequately explained. The book is one third the length of what it should be to cover this material, and what is there is, is not very well done. Read something else, whether you are looking for an introduction or an advanced treatise.

The intent of Fischer's work here is to make the Elliott Wave Principle useful for objectively setting price and date targets. As he points out, there is too much subjectivity in wave counting to make Elliott Wave a useful predictive method, but the application of Fibbonaci expansion ratios makes possible an objective trading strategy.

One valuable element is his method for calculating Fibbonacci price confluence zones by multiplying the amplitude of wave 1 by a factor of 1.618, then multiplying the total amplitude from the beginning of wave 1 to the end of wave 3 by a factor of 0.618, giving a target zone for the end of wave 5.

Another interesting concept is the application of Fibbonacci expansion numbers to date ranges, for example by multiplying the days difference between two swing points by 1.618 to find the possible next swing date.

Fischer includes specific trading strategies in order to minimize risk and increase the chaces of trading success. This is not a "get rich in the market" how-to book, but it offers useful tools for a careful and disciplined trader to make money consistently in the securities markets.

Finally, he offers the tantalizing prospect of using the Fibbonaci spiral to combine both price and time expansion targets, and includes in an appendix the instructions for programming a computer to do this.

Altogether, a worthwhile text deserving of careful study.

Fibonacci is a standard trading tool for professional traders, and Robert Fischer details how to apply it to chart movements. What I found most informative was the explanation for using it in time, horizontally, as well as vertically. Unfortunately, this book is not for the beginner trader, and there are not any exact directions on how to trade.

The author contradicts himself. He says two people will label a chart with different Elliott counts, but then uses Wave counts as his starting point. He argues against Elliott, and then uses it as an example of how to implement his ideas. The book is poorly written and not cohesive. It lacks a lot of explanation and definition.

If you already trade and have a basic understanding of Fibonacci, then you can glean some useful information out of this book. However, as a strategy, it is lacking by itself. I found numerous examples in real life, and even in this book, of charts where his strategy fails.

I appreciated the techniques and am currently attempting to apply them in my trading in both the price and time perspectives. I identified with the idea that Elliott was "predictable" only in certain situations, too many exceptions.

For the spiral equation, I wish more examples, explanation and tools were included to the reader. I felt like I wanted to know more and wondering why there were no more examples (no general cases work or what?). I would like to see the idea of alternation fully applied to the spirals.

I did not find the spiral equations intuitive. Case in point is the 2 radii equation of the spiral, does the separation pi/2 mean it is 90 degrees apart? I think that section needs further amplification/rewrite. It would be nice if we could generate the spiral using a spreadsheet instead of the code presented.

The book contains interesting application of Fibonacci concepts and it is an interesting read, especially if compared to the general trivial approach to Fibonacci found in other books.
However, do not expect something you can immediately apply to freely traded markets.
Fresh and thought-provoking ideas, but still far from a practical application.

Practical text describing pattern, timing and ratios using the Fibonacci methodology. Book gives 6 theorems for trading. Solves methodology guess work by requiring confirmation by 2 or more different tools. Novel confirmation of patterns by time goal analysis with ratios which is a new wrinkle. Unfortunately, tries to sell his website thru the book. If you have access to financial data, then you can use the old pen and compass method to draw Fisher's ellipses and spirals. The program provided by with the text contains this, so I can forgive the sales talk. Examples provided to illustrate concepts and fill in details NOT discussed. (Interestingly, I did a time goal analysis on a stock in my portfolio and the geometric structure correctly forecasted a recent turning point in my stock. If I had believed this, I still think it is coincidence, I could have made the price of the book by taking the appropriate financial measures.) Great for potential swing traders.

While there is plethora of books giving practical applications of Elliott Wave Principle (Perry Kaufman's TRADING SYSTEMS AND METHODS and Constance Brown's TECHNICAL ANALYSIS FOR THE TRADING PROFESSIONAL come immediately to mind as two of the best I've seen), Fischer's book is one you may want to read after Kaufman or Brown. The last chapter, "The Logarithmic Spiral," is unique and stimulating, and admittedly in the early stages of research (as of 1993). Since I have not seen anything about it published anywhere else, including the web, I conclude that it must not have fulfilled its original promise. Even if that's the case, it's like Thomas Edison said after so many failed experiments: "I know a lot of things that DON'T work."

But overall Fischer's work here is worthwhile reading, if only to get a different perspective on Elliott Wave Principle. Jog your mind.

Combines Elliot Wave Theory with precise Fibonacci set of entry and exit rules. Anyone wanting to learn either and immediately be able to apply it to their trading method, should pick this one up.

This book is a good starting to the fibonacci world, but just that. it is very interesting field and could have a lot of aplications but when the author comes to logarithmic spiral you can demostrate that it works backward but forward you would have so many choices that you will never find the right one. the book has poor graphics but it's worth to read it