Exceptional Zone Marking
Reversal pattern marking (DBR / RBD)
For a DBR (Drop-Base-Rally): the BASE is the indecision cluster just before the explosive rally. Mark proximal at the top body of the base, distal at the lowest wick of the base. Do NOT include the drop leg-in candle in the zone. The leg-out candle must be explosive and close above both the base AND the leg-in.
Continuation pattern marking (RBR / DBD)
For an RBR (Rally-Base-Rally): the base is a brief pause inside an uptrend. The proximal is still the top body of the base. The key extra check: the leg-out must close above the HIGHEST point (wick) of the base AND above the leg-in candle. A close only above the base body but not the wick is not a valid continuation zone.
Gap-out zones
If price GAPS out of the base (opens above the base range with no trading in between), the gap space itself becomes part of the zone. Mark the proximal at the top of the last base body; mark the distal at the lowest wick of the base. The gap-out is the strongest possible leg-out signal.
When to skip entirely
If a base spans more than 5–7 candles, is heavily overlapping, or has candles piercing both sides (buyers and sellers fighting back and forth), the zone quality is too low to be useful. The cleanest decision is to skip it. Forcing a zone onto messy structure is one of the most common and costly habits.
Practice checklist
- Reversal (DBR/RBD): base only, leg-out closes above/below base AND leg-in
- Continuation (RBR/DBD): leg-out closes beyond the wick extreme of the base
- Gap-out: proximal at top of last base body; distal at lowest base wick
- More than 5 candles in base or messy overlap = skip
Mistakes to avoid
- Drawing a zone on messy, overlapping base candles — this produces false signals
- For continuation zones, not checking that leg-out clears the base WICK (not just body)