The breakout engine - breakout %, volume surge, price run and max step
The breakout engine is the classic long rule: enter when price clears the high of the day by Breakout percent. Breakout percent is how far through the high price must go to count as a break. Three more boxes decide whether a break is worth taking.
In this video
The 30-second version
The same topic in thirty seconds, made for a phone screen.
Both videos use the desk in paper mode with made-up symbols and prices.
Read the transcript
The classic long rule
The breakout engine is the classic long rule: enter when price clears the high of the day by Breakout percent. Breakout percent is how far through the high price must go to count as a break. Three more boxes decide whether a break is worth taking.
Volume and run
Vol surge requires the window's volume to be above its recent pace, so a break on no volume is ignored. Vol surge percent sets that minimum, as a percentage of normal. Price run requires a steep enough move into the break.
Max step: not a chase
Max step skips breaks that jump too far past the old high in one go. That is a chase, not an entry, and a chase is where fills are worst.
First breakout only
Buy first breakout only takes only the first break of the session, never the retries. The first break of a fresh high is a different trade from the fourth attempt at the same level.
The short side
The short side mirrors it all, with Breakdown percent and Price fall, and First breakdown only. Each side has its own numbers, so your long rules never leak into your shorts.
Combine with gates
On its own, the breakout engine fires on any qualifying break. Add gates, such as a candle gate or above VWAP, to refuse the breaks that do not look right. Several entry rules can be on at once, but some exclude each other. Like every rule, it still needs the side armed before it can trade. Gates are ticked per side, and saved with the profile. And try every change in paper first.