// Overview
Price only does three things: trends, ranges, or transitions between them. Structure tells you which. Start with higher time frames (HTF) to mark swing highs/lows, range bounds, and key opens/closes. Then drop to execution to look for acceptance or rejection around those levels. If the map is unclear, you don’t “find” a trade — you wait.
// Playbook
Trend Read
Higher-high + higher-low sequence (or lower-low + lower-high) intact on your HTF.
Pullbacks respect prior structure (breakers, OTE, prior day/week opens).
Plan: join on pullback to structure; invalidation = break of the HL/LH that defines the leg.
Range Read
Clear horizontal containment: multiple touches top/bottom; mid as balance point.
Volume/participation compress toward mid; expansions often fade back to mean.
Plan: fade edges back to mid unless acceptance/expansion confirms a regime change.
Break & Acceptance
Break beyond a key level is noise until the market accepts (closes/holds) beyond it.
Look for retest/hold, time at price, or absorption shift to validate acceptance.
Plan: trade in direction of acceptance; if reclaim occurs, treat it as a failed break.
Mapping Levels
Carry: prior day/week H/L, session opens, range bounds, weekly/daily opens, and obvious swing pivots.
Protect the chart: fewer lines, clearer decisions. If everything is “important,” nothing is.
// Setups
Break → Retest → Acceptance
HTF boundary breaks; price retests and holds above; entry on reclaim/acceptance.
Invalidation: back inside the old range with two closes (execution TF) or loss of retest low/high.
Range Edge Fade
Multiple taps on range edge; failure to accept beyond; wick rejections; enter back toward mid.
Invalidation: acceptance beyond the range with hold/retest.
Trend Pullback to Structure
In a trend, wait for pullback into prior structure (breaker/flip zone); rotate in when buyers/sellers reappear.
Invalidation: break of the structural HL/LH that defines the trend leg.
Failed Break Reversal
Push beyond key level fails; swift reclaim; trade back into prior balance.
Target: mid, then opposite edge; de-risk at first objective.
// Common Mistakes
Trading Emotion, Not Structure
Entering on speed alone; no reference level; no structural invalidation.
Lines Everywhere
Over-marked charts blur the read. Keep the few levels that actually drive decisions.
Ignoring Acceptance
Treating every poke as a breakout. Without acceptance, it’s just a test.
HTF/Execution Mismatch
HTF says range, you trade trend setups — or vice versa. Align regimes.
// Checklist
Map
HTF regime? (trend/range) Key levels marked: PDH/PDL, PWH/PWL, range bounds, session opens.
Where would acceptance be obvious? Where does the read flip?
Execute
Trigger defined at a level; invalidation structural (not “feels bad”).
Size by risk tier; de-risk at first objective; prewritten branches for reclaim/failure.
