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2017issue C1242

First swing box as a measured-move exit ruler

A historical swing-trading walkthrough marks a first box-trading-range on a 90-day daily candlestick chart, then uses that height both to place a buy-stop-entry and to project a measured-move exit. After the projected target is reached, the procedure can close the position or keep a remainder under a 2-point trailing-stop.

  • The first box-trading-range is marked on a 90-day daily candlestick chart from the left-side low to the high that prints just before the first major pullback.
  • A buy-stop-entry sits 0.50 above that first boxed high, and the same box height is added to a later box high to project a measured-move exit.
  • Once the projected exit is reached, the procedure allows a full close or a partial close with a 2-point trailing-stop on the remainder.
  • The same boxed range can also plan a continuation after the first large breakout has already been missed, but completed-range height is only a working estimate.
Entries in this reading3 entries
Current trackMeasured move14 readingsSwing trading54 readingsTrailing stop122 readings

The archive records a swing-trading walkthrough: a multi-day holding procedure that turns a scanned market state, an entry trigger, a projected exit, and a stay-out or scale-out decision into one testable sequence. The working object on the chart is a first completed box-trading-range.

How the first box is marked

On a 90-day daily candlestick chart, the first box-trading-range is a visually boxed high-to-low segment taken from the left-side low to the high that prints just before the first major pullback. The first box height is that high minus that low.

Scan, buy-stop-entry, and the stacked target

The walkthrough scans names between 20 and 70 per share that show a 90-day low at the lower left and a current uptrend. The buy-stop-entry is a stop order placed 0.50 above the first boxed high, so that only a break of that range becomes the swing entry.

A measured-move in this procedure is a chart-scale hypothesis that the height of a completed price box can be stacked onto a later box high to mark a falsifiable continuation target. The first box height is added to a later box high to project the exit for the next range.

Illustrated case

In the illustrated case, a first box from 33 to 43 is a 10-point range and projects an exit at 53.

After the projected exit

Once the projected exit is reached, the procedure allows a full close or a partial close with a 2-point trailing-stop on the remainder. The trailing-stop is a distance-based exposure rule kept in force after the projected target is reached, so remaining size has a bounded give-back instead of an open-ended hold.

Missed breakouts and the working estimate

The same boxed range is also used to plan a continuation after the first large breakout has already been missed. Recent completed-range height is treated as a working estimate of how far the next swing may travel before stalling. The same run length is not expected on every occasion.

SQM daily price and first-box $53 measured-move target

Traders should see the first swing box used as a dual ruler: its $33–$43 height (10 points) is stacked on the $43 box high to project a $53 exit. Approximate daily closes read from the source 90-day candlestick chart grind inside that box into mid-August 2017, break out, tag $53 in early September, then extend toward $64. The $33, $43 and $53 levels are the figures the walkthrough states; the price path is digitized from Figure 1.
Traders should see the first swing box used as a dual ruler: its $33–$43 height (10 points) is stacked on the $43 box high to project a $53 exit. Approximate daily closes read from the source 90-day candlestick chart grind inside that box into mid-August 2017, break out, tag $53 in early September, then extend toward $64. The $33, $43 and $53 levels are the figures the walkthrough states; the price path is digitized from Figure 1.SQM · 90-day daily · 2017-06-27T00:00:00.000Z to 2017-09-22T00:00:00.000Z

Closes are read off the daily candlesticks to the nearest half-dollar because the source prints no price table. The window is the 90-day daily chart the article specifies (27 June–22 September 2017).

Educational research material, not investment advice. Historical source context does not establish present-day performance.
11 of 12 in the Measured move track
202014-17 pp.Next on Measured moveThe recovered swing high as a halfway-reaction checkpointThe halfway-reaction measure treats the recovered first peak as the midpoint of the two-leg journey, so the measured move copies first-leg height onto that same peak.
All readings on this track · 12 readings
  1. 1990Constructing volume-budget targets after a breakout
  2. 1991Constructing price objectives from measured moves and swings
  3. 1997Measuring chart pattern height for breakout targets
  4. 1998Double-top confirmation before the measured move
  5. 1998Writing entry, target, and trail as one procedure
  6. 2005Constructing flag and pennant measured moves
  7. 2006The swing rule as a measured move beyond a broken barrier
  8. 2011Prove the X7 turn before measuring the reversal
  9. 2014Constructing an intraday flag breakout as one procedure
  10. 2017Price mirrors as a fold-test for reversal targets
  11. 2017First swing box as a measured-move exit ruler
  12. 2020The recovered swing high as a halfway-reaction checkpoint
By fieldEntry and exit rules327 readingsBy year2017182 readings
All 14 readings tagged Measured move
Also on Measured move5 readings
1998Writing entry, target, and trail as one procedure1990Constructing volume-budget targets after a breakout1991Constructing price objectives from measured moves and swings1996Construct the coil first, then time the apex and the measured move1997Measuring chart pattern height for breakout targets