Journal · 2 May 2026
An extension is a reference until the impulse is finished
The Extension Mapping Clinic exists because people like to project a target while the move is still being printed. This note is the waiting rule we use.
Complete means a correction has begun
An impulse is finished, for our purposes, when a correction has started. Fatigue is not a signal. A round number is not a signal. The chart has to show a pause or a pullback you can point at with the pencil.
Until that pause exists, 1.618 is a guess about a swing that may still grow. We put those guesses on the discard sheet so the temptation is visible and separate.
Where the projection starts
Measure the impulse from the anchor you already defended in a retracement conversation. Project the extension from the end of the correction, not from the impulse high itself if the correction has already carried price away from it.
On the sheet, 1.272 and 1.618 are drawn as light arcs. We rarely add 2.618 in the clinic. A third projection invites the pile-of-lines problem the Tuesday studio spends weeks undoing.
A reference, then a cancel
The word we use in the room is reference. The arc shows where a measured move would land if the impulse you accepted remains the impulse that matters. It does not instruct anyone to buy or sell.
Under the arc we write the print that makes the measure obsolete. Often that is a return through the start of the correction. When that print appears, the extension comes off the page even if price later travels to the same area for a different reason.