Breaches explained: a beginner's guide

A breach is price trading beyond a visible high or low and reacting. Obvious extremes collect stop and breakout orders, so a run through one can fuel either a reversal or a genuine breakout. A breach is an event, not a signal. Context, confirmation, invalidation, and risk still decide everything.

Where open levels sit

Orders cluster at prices everyone can see:

• Recent swing highs and lows
• The prior session's high or low
• Equal or nearly equal highs and lows
• A reference candle's extremes
• The edge of a model-timeframe gap

Breach vs breakout

Both start with price crossing an old extreme. The body close separates them:

• Breakout: the body closes beyond the level. Acceptance outside the range.
• Breach (reversal read): the body closes back through the level. Rejection.

You cannot make this call mid-candle. A rejection-looking wick can become a breakout by the close. Wait for it.

Bullish and bearish breaches

Bullish: price trades below a reference low, fails to hold, and closes back above it. Sellers pushed through a known low and could not keep acceptance there.

Bearish: the mirror. Through a prior high, no acceptance, close back below.

Neither pattern means price must reverse. It becomes interesting only with location and confirmation.

Location beats the wick

Charts print small breaches constantly; most are range noise. A breach matters at a qualified model-timeframe location, evaluated in strict order:

1. A confirmed swing high or low
2. An active directional gap
3. The immediately breached opposing reference candle, only when neither of the above exists
4. The trailing 20-model-candle range extreme, FMP+'s final trend-colored blow-off fallback when none of the above qualifies

The fourth test is an FMP+ operational fallback, not a published source rule. Location is a prerequisite, not a bonus point. Next steps: the Reclaim for the rule that follows the breach, and the four-candle fractal model for the full sequence.

Confirmation: the trigger close

After the breach, mark the open of the last same-direction run into the extreme. That is the trigger line. Confirmation is a body close through it on the chart timeframe (for a 4-hour model, confirmed 15-minute closes; the chain continues 15m → 4H → 1D → 1W). A wick through the line confirms nothing. Full rule: the trigger close explained.

Quick checklist

• Reference. Which exact high or low was breached?
• Close. Did the body reclaim the level, or is the candle still forming?
• Location. Qualified model-timeframe location?
• Confirmation. Did the chart timeframe close through the trigger line?
• Invalidation and risk. Defined before entry?

If any answer is vague, there is no setup yet.

FAQ

Does candle color matter?

No. The breached level and where the body closes relative to it define the event.

Can a breach continue instead of reversing?

Yes. Acceptance beyond the level is a breakout. That is exactly why close-based rules exist.

Is a stop hunt the same thing?

"Stop hunt" assumes a motive charts cannot prove. "Breach" just describes the observable: price through a known extreme, then the reaction.

Futures and leveraged products carry substantial risk; losses can exceed plans around news and thin markets. This is general education, not personalized advice. Fractal Model Pro+ organizes these rules on a chart. It does not replace judgment or risk management.