Entry, stop-loss and take-profit ranges
Where the entry range, chase limit, tight and wide stops, TP1 and TP2 on a pattern signal come from, and how to use them.
Where you see them
A pattern signal (the Signals page, the signal panel on a pair page, the signal popup) and the verdict box of the Pattern Engine view carry a trade plan: entry range, chase limit, tight and wide stop-loss, TP1 and TP2, the risk-to-reward ratio and the historical hit rates.
The Pair Model and the Flow Model have their own plan (side, take-profit, stop-loss and, for the Pair Model, a limit entry); see The Pair Model and the model picker.
Entry range and chase limit
- Entry range: the zone where the set-up's historical record applies, usually the retest zone of the pattern's breakout level.
- Chase limit: the worst price you should still accept. Once price is beyond it, the room to the target is too small for the record to mean much: skip it and wait for the next call.
Stop-loss range
Two values are given, with their distance from the entry in percent:
- Tight stop: just beyond the point where the structure is broken, with room for the wobble that winning set-ups on this coin typically showed before they paid.
- Wide stop: beyond the pattern's full invalidation level. More room, worse risk-to-reward.
Both are measured on this coin's own history, so a volatile coin automatically gets wider stops than a quiet one.
Take-profit range
- TP1: the pattern's measured move or the nearest strong level ahead (whichever comes first). The hit rate next to it is how often TP1 was reached by the same set-up on this coin.
- TP2: an extended target with its own, lower hit rate.
Odds
R:R is TP1 against the tight stop. The panel also shows the TP1 and TP2 hit rates, the typical number of bars to TP1 and the confirmation level. All percentages are unleveraged price moves: multiply by your leverage to see the effect on your margin.
Leverage and liquidation
The ranges are price levels and do not depend on leverage. What leverage changes is whether your liquidation price sits before the stop. The signal panel's Why section warns when the tight stop is beyond the estimated liquidation price at the chosen leverage. For trades on trading accounts the open-positions table shows the liquidation price and the Stop piles column; see Liquidation map and Stop piles.
Practical rules
- Enter only inside the entry range, never beyond the chase limit.
- Use the tight stop unless you deliberately want room.
- Consider taking partial profit at TP1 and moving the stop to break-even. On trading accounts the Close %, BE and Edit buttons do this; see Close % and editing the stop and target.
- Around a high-impact macro release, widen the stop or wait for the print.
Hit rates are historical frequencies, not promises. Read the risk notice.