A range is a box: a ceiling sellers defend, a floor buyers defend, and noise in between. Ranges are where most of a market's TIME is spent and most of traders' MONEY is lost — because people trade the middle, where nothing is decided and both stops are far.
The two trades a box offers
- FADE THE EDGES: buy the floor, sell the ceiling, stop just outside, target the other side. Works while the box holds — best when the box is wide, tested cleanly, and the higher-timeframe is also rangebound.
- TRADE THE BREAK: enter as an edge fails, stop back inside the box, ride the expansion. Best after compression (narrowing range, stacked inside bars) — boxes that get quiet tend to break hard.
- NEVER both at once. Decide which trade today's box deserves, or stand aside.
Measure the box before entering: if the range's height is barely worth the spread and stop distance, the box is untradeable — walk away. Professionals skip more ranges than they trade.
Breaks fail constantly (next lesson) — so break traders demand confirmation (holding beyond the level, retest holding) and fade traders demand clean rejections. Both are systems; the middle is a donation.