Interpretive research — not financial advice

Trend Following — after the first 30-minute range breaks

Once price closes outside the first 30-minute range (IVB), a path completely different from mean reversion opens: trading only with the direction of the break, through three specific entry triggers.

The trend declaration: breaking the first 30-minute range

A first-30-minute candle closing outside the IVB range is the official "declaration" of the day's direction — and only from it do trend-following trades open.

The day's gate: the first 30-minute IVB range and the breakout rule — A close above the range's upper bound = trend-following trades to the upside only. A close below the lower bound = trend-following trades to the downside only.

The fixed sequence: alignment → absorption → aggression

Every trigger in this setup follows the same three-part sequence: price moves with the break's direction (alignment), then the opposite side tries and fails at the retest (absorption), then the original side returns with larger size (aggression).

Three trend-following entry triggers: a bounce off a delta cluster, a range retest, and a deep exhaustion zone — Three specific entry triggers, plus the "alignment → absorption → aggression" sequence that explains price behaviour in each — detailed below.

Trigger 1

Break + bounce off a high delta cluster

The first correction after the break bounces off a large volume cluster on the profile — a sign that the large traders are defending the area.

Trigger 2

Break then retest of the range

Price returns to the range level itself to act as support/resistance, absorption fixes the line, then aggression returns in the same direction. The cleanest mechanical entry.

Trigger 3

A deep exhaustion zone (fine range)

After the break, the opposite side's orders exhaust and price drops to an exhaustion zone on a fine tick-range chart. Enter at the zone, stop just behind it.

A detailed read of the execution techniques

A visual breakdown of how to read each trigger on the chart moment by moment: the changing delta percentage, and the "absorption → pullback → continuation" style.

Execution techniques: candle framing by delta percentage, and the absorption, pullback and continuation style — **Candle framing:** tracking the delta percentage in real time on each candle during the move — the ratio shifting gradually from negative to positive confirms that momentum is turning in favour of the break's direction. **Absorption, pullback and continuation:** a zone where opposing sell/buy pressure is absorbed, followed by a slight pullback then continuation of the original move — the same idea as the second trigger but at the single-candle level.

The reference pattern library

The patterns most relevant to this setup, from the same visual library used in the mean-reversion setup.

The visual pattern library and the daily execution checklist — The most relevant patterns here: **"absorption and aggressive flip"** (buying is absorbed at the top then aggressive selling flips the direction, or the reverse) and **"a stacked exhaustion zone"** (sellers stack and fail; the green exhaustion zone supports continuation). The "execution" column in the daily checklist (right of the image) sums up the check for each trigger before entering: candle framing, the exhaustion-trade signature, and stop placement.

A quick reference for the three triggers

Trigger	Condition	Stop	Target
Trigger 1	Bounce off a high delta cluster after the break	Behind the bounce level	The next balance area
Trigger 2	Retest of the range as support/resistance	Behind the range level	The next balance area
Trigger 3	An exhaustion zone after the break (fine range)	Behind the exhaustion zone	The next balance area

Next step
The A+ additional setup — the best return-to-risk