The “Low Break Fake” Trade

A Trade Filter Worth Considering

Low Break Fake

One of my favourite setups is what I call a range break fake.

It’s where a range forms, price tries to break out of that range, only to be met with rejection and immediate movement in the other direction.


Full details of that strategy and more are in the Trading Strategies section of the Trading Plan Pro dashboard.


It’s actually very similar to Wyckoff’s spring setup.

But what’s the low break fake?

The low break fake is a trade trigger. A way to get into a trade that you are already interested in. Eg: Let’s say you’ve identified a key area to do business.

You want to buy but don’t want to just bid blindly at a fixed price.

Using a trigger is a perfect way to get long. The low break fake is one such trigger. Let’s look at an example on USDJPY.

The market oscillates after CPI number and you identify the last low (139.02) as an area you’d like to get long at. But you don’t want to just leave a resting buy order, in case price just falls right through.

So you draw your zone of interest and wait.


Price then starts to retest that level.

The low break fake trigger rules state this:

  • An initial low should be put in
  • That low should then be breached
  • Price should then recover back above the prior low
  • A long is initiated with a stop under the most recent low

So in this 5min USDJPY example, you’d be long at 139.03 (plus some slippage) with a stop under the recent low of 139. (This is an extreme example, often the low is much further away, but it was a recent setup).

That was a 5 min, but I think this low-break fake play works best on a daily chart. Wait for an area to do business to be touched > then the prior days low broken > then recovered.

The same rules apply:

  • Long as it retakes the low
  • Stop under the current low


You don’t always get this trigger of course, but it can be a good way to get into a trade you are already considering.

I’m a huge fan of the filter plus trigger methodology and a trigger like this is a great addition to the library.