| Occasionally, a
correction retraces a Fibonacci percentage of the preceding
wave. As illustrated in Figure 4-1, sharp corrections tend more
often to retrace 61.8% or 50% of the previous wave, particularly
when they occur as wave 2 of an impulse wave, wave B of a larger
zigzag, or wave X in a multiple zigzag. Sideways corrections
tend more often to retrace 38.2% of the previous impulse wave,
particularly when they occur as wave 4, as shown in Figure 4-2.
Retracements come in all sizes.
The ratios shown in Figures 4-1 and 4-2 are merely tendencies,
yet that is where most analysts place an inordinate focus
because measuring retracements is easy. Far more precise and
reliable, however, are relationships between alternate waves,
or lengths unfolding in the same direction, as explained in the
next section. |