5 / 6 · 5 min
«Approaching a level»: the only kind that lives before the event
Every formation reports what already happened. A level approach shows what is being decided right now — the only kind you can build a plan around BEFORE the crowd piles in.
Every event card has one incurable flaw: by the time it appears, the best price is behind. The «Approaching a level» kind is built the other way round. The detector looks for coins whose price is within one typical bar of an unbroken level and MOVING towards it: the last closed bar has not touched the target yet, but over three bars the distance has shrunk. Such a card lives in the common feed next to the formations — same mini chart, same levels — and awaits the resolution together with you. It is the default kind for a new visitor: what is being decided now beats what has already happened.
The life cycle of an approach
- Birth: price is closer than one typical bar to an unbroken level and heading towards it; one nearest target per side.
- Life: the «to target» distance updates with the live price every minute — in percent and in typical bars. A minus means price is already beyond the target but the bar has not closed: the resolution is in progress.
- Resolution «Bounce»: the wick touched the target and the close moved away by at least half a typical bar.
- Resolution «Break»: the close went beyond the target by more than the tolerance.
- Did not happen: price walked away by more than one and a half typical bars without touching the target — the approach «left» and is not counted: the target was never tested. Same if there is no resolution for more than 24 bars.
A trade plan around an approach — with numbers before the touch
The card: an approach from below to resistance at 1.250, price 1.238, NATR 1.2% (typical bar 0.015, tolerance 0.004). To target +0.97% — about 0.8 of a bar. The plan is written BEFORE the resolution, in two branches. Branch «bounce»: sell on rejection from the 1.246–1.254 band, stop beyond the level at 1.258 (past the tolerance), risk 0.012 — about one bar; first target — the middle of the approach's path. Branch «break»: do nothing on the break itself, wait for the retest from above — the previous lesson explained why. Both branches are written in advance — which one fires is decided by the bar's close, not by your emotions in the moment.
What the approach statistics say — and how to use them
Approaches have their own table in «Statistics»: by timeframe and KIND of level (pure liquidity or a window extreme) — how many approaches were decided and what share bounced. The kind of level is no small detail: an approach to untouched liquidity and an approach to the daily extreme are different events with a different crowd on the other side. Before building the plan from the example above, check the bounce share of your exact «timeframe × level kind» combination: if it is near one half, there is no edge, and the plan must lean on something else — higher-timeframe context, a wall in the book, a structure break nearby.
Counting «left» as the level's failure
A third of approaches never reach a resolution: price turns around without touching the target. A beginner logs that as «the level rejected it» and admires the level's strength — but that is an accounting error: the target was NOT tested, the event did not happen. The detector honestly drops such cases from the statistics. If you keep your own trade journal of approaches — drop them too, otherwise the «bounce» share in your records will flatter levels that price simply never reached.
Open the feed: the «Approaching a level» kind is on by default, timeframe 1h. Pick one live approach closer than half a bar, open its big chart from the card — and write both branches of the plan as in the example: entry, stop, target for the bounce; behaviour on a break. Then just watch the resolution without entering. Ten such «dry» plans teach more than a month of random entries.
Live level approachesAn approach to a target of 104 from above. The bar wicked to 103.98 and closed at 104.42 with a typical bar of 0.5. Which resolution?
A bounce. The wick touched the target (overshoot 0.02 — within tolerance and deeper), and the close at 104.42 moved 0.42 away from the target — more than half a typical bar (0.25). Note: «bounce» here means a move UP from support — the bounce side is defined by which side price approached from.
Why is «Approaching a level» the default kind rather than the flashier breakout?
Because the approach is the only kind where the visitor arrives in time for the decision, not for the report about it. A breakout has already happened: the best prices are taken, the stops are set, half the outcomes go against. An approach is still undecided: you can study the level, write both branches of a plan and meet the resolution prepared. The event feed is a textbook of the past; approaches are its only page about the future.