Failed breakouts as first-class patterns
Treating the failed move as a structure in its own right — not merely a wrong call — changes how students mark charts.
Many students apologise when a breakout fails. We ask them to mark the failure with the same care they give a clean flag.
Anatomy we look for
A push through a well-tested boundary, a quick rejection, and acceptance back inside the prior range. Volume on the rejection often matters more than the breakout bar itself.
Scenario implication
A failed breakout card usually flips direction only after acceptance is clear — not on the first wick. Students practise waiting for the reclaim candle to settle before writing the alternate path.
Homework
Annotate two failures and one clean continuation from the same watchlist week. Present both. The contrast trains the eye better than another textbook page of perfect shoulders.