Range-width gates for swing entries at base edges

The archive examines a trading procedure in rising, falling, and sideways markets as separate cases, not only across one multiyear mixed sample. Swing setups are generated only after that case is named.

Editorial interpretation: regime is a hard eligibility filter. A completed chart setup is not enough until a range-width-gate shows that the market can host a hold of several days to a few weeks.

How a range-width-gate assigns the holding period

A range-width-gate is a pre-scan test of how many sessions and how many points the market typically needs to travel from one range boundary to the other. It is used to choose among short-term, swing, and intermediate-term rules.

When more than one holding-period style can fit the current market, the holding-period-ladder selects the longest style those conditions will support.

If the market usually travels from one end of its range to the other in fewer than four sessions, short-term rules are chosen over swing rules. Recognizing a bounce at support or resistance is treated as using one of those sessions.

A range of about 60 points with typical daily travel of about 20 points is treated as too tight for swing holds. A range of about 100 points with the same daily travel is treated as having enough room.

What makes a swing hold eligible

Swing trading is specified as an initial stop under the setup low, a stop that is trailed as price advances, and a typical hold of three days to three weeks. It is applied in a wide range or a trend rather than a tight range.

The procedure is eligible only when the market’s range or trend is wide enough to host that hold. Editorial interpretation: the range-width-gate runs first, and the stop rules are applied only after that gate is passed.

Entries at the edges, not inside the base

When the market is basing, new long swing entries are allowed after a bounce from the lower boundary. New short entries are allowed after a retreat from the upper boundary. The interior of the base is reserved for managing open trades rather than starting new ones.

That interior is mid-base-abstention. Support and resistance are prior swing highs, swing lows, and the flat or sloping boundaries of a trading base. Those levels decide where new longs, new shorts, and forced exits are permitted.

A four-session check near prior extremes

A four-session relative strength index is used to corroborate exits or reversals as price nears a prior swing high or low. The premise is that those levels often fail on the first test.

After the base later breaks, new trades are aligned with that break.

Editorial interpretation: the oscillator is a short-lookback overbought or oversold check that supports taking profits or reversing near a prior swing extreme. It is not used as a standalone forecast, and it is not used to justify holding for a first-try breakout.

Several pattern families share the same gate

Setup generation uses several pattern families at once, including pullbacks, trendline breaks, morning stars, and flags. One flag filter keeps issues above five dollars with average volume of at least 200,000 shares that show a brief narrow base after a fast multi-session thrust.

Editorial interpretation: pattern recognition does not override the range-width-gate or mid-base-abstention. A flag that forms in a tight range, or in the interior of a base, remains ineligible for a new swing entry.