Day one morning of the Breakout Recognition Workshop is devoted to range anatomy. Participants arrive eager to talk about confirmation rules; we slow down and draw boxes until everyone agrees on the boundaries. Half the disagreements in later exercises trace back to ranges that were drawn too wide or too narrow at this stage.
Tightening ranges
Successive highs and lows converge. Daily ranges shrink. Volume often declines into the apex. These patterns produce the cleanest breaks on large-cap UK equities because both sides have accepted a narrow auction zone. Mark the boundary at the last swing high and low that participated in the squeeze — not the extreme wick from three months ago.
Broadening drift
Price wanders sideways but swings remain wide. There is no compression. Breaks from drift often fail because the market has not agreed on a level — it has merely paused. We teach participants to downgrade drift patterns to watch-only unless a clear horizontal shelf emerges from at least three touch points.
News-induced pauses
Earnings, dividend dates, and macro prints can flatten price for a fortnight without forming a tradeable range. The boundary you draw around a post-earnings pause is arbitrary. Wait until normal two-sided auction resumes before marking a break setup.
Practical exercise
Print six months of a single FTSE 100 holding. Mark ranges in pencil. Label each as tightening, drift, or news pause. Only then apply the breakout checklist. Workshop alumni say this single exercise changes their scan routine more than any indicator addition.