1. Daily Profile / Daily Narrative

1.1 Daily High / Low

Community insight

• A bullish expansion candle typically opens low first — when it does and leaves the session high still unestablished, that's a good continuation signature, since there's still a target to knife through. — Garrett — "How I Confirm Narrative With Drivers", 29:39

• The daily high / low is usually formed before 10:30.
• The daily high / low is always made from key levels: a 4H gap or a 1H order-pairing range.
• Once the daily high / low is likely formed, price is more likely to trade within the intraday range.
• Any move against the DoL is usually treated as:
  • a retracement, or
  • a reversal.

The daily high / low should not be judged by time alone. Also check:

• whether it formed from a key level;
• whether there is a swing formation;
• whether there is SMT / SS validation;
• whether price has displaced away;
• whether the 30m / 1H price action is clean.

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1.2 Continuation vs Reversal

Continuation

Core features of a continuation:

• The daily high / low is already formed.
• Price is trading within the intraday range.
• Consolidation is usually a continuation signature.
• In a trend, price usually respects gaps and manipulates internal swings.
• In a trend, 1-stage SMT is usually enough.

Reversal

Core features of a reversal:

• Price reaches a key level.
• SMT appears.
• A Strength Switch is preferred.
• PSP / 2-stage SMT appears.
• Displacement / gap confirms the move.
• HTF reversals usually require higher-quality confirmation.

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1.3 Candle Profile Components

Community insight

• A candle profile has two components that both need to align: wick size tells you how far it can expand, and whether it opens high or low first tells you how it will actually form. — Garrett — "Filter Price through 'Candle Profiles'", 0:30
• A large-wick reversal candle will reverse but is capped near the open, so adjust your targets to stay inside the daily range — a small-wick reversal candle, by contrast, can both reverse and expand in the same candle. — Garrett — "Filter Price through 'Candle Profiles'", 1:24
• What counts as opening high or low is whichever side gets manipulated first, not necessarily the very first tick — but opening high and then opening low with nothing in between reads as seek-and-destroy, not a clean directional day. — Garrett — "Filter Price through 'Candle Profiles'", 5:52
• Wick size isn't the only filter — a reversal that forms with plenty of the candle's time left can still become an expansion candle, while the same wick forming right at the close has no time left to expand and should be treated as a plain reversal. — Afyz — "Master Class Part 1: Reversals", 34:56
• There are two reversal-candle shapes: a fluid open-low-first-then-reverse-into-the-high, which is tradeable, versus open-high-first-then-open-low with nothing established to target — that second shape is seek-and-destroy and shouldn't be framed as a clean reversal. — Garrett — weekly trade recap (4K subscribers), 1:23

A candle profile has two components, and both need to align:

• Wick size tells you how far the candle is likely to expand. A small wick / large body supports expansion. A large wick / small body will reverse but is unlikely to expand much past the opening price — treat that as candle 2 and wait for candle 3 to trade the actual expansion.
• Time remaining in the candle is a second filter alongside wick size. A wick that forms early, with most of the candle’s time still left, has room to become an expansion candle even if it currently looks large. A wick that only forms late, close to the candle’s own close, has little time left to expand — treat that as a reversal candle and wait for the next candle to trade the expansion.
• Open-high vs open-low tells you how the candle is likely to form and close. A bullish expansion candle typically opens low first; opening high first, especially into something relevant, is a negative condition.
• Open-high or open-low is decided by whichever side gets manipulated first, not necessarily the literal opening tick — a brief early move that doesn’t trade into anything relevant does not invalidate the read.
• A reversal candle with a small wick is both a reversal and an expansion candle at once. A reversal candle with a large wick will still reverse, but targets should stay within the daily range (back to the open or a little past it) rather than expecting a break beyond it.
• Opening high and then opening low, with no expansion in between, reads as seek-and-destroy / consolidation rather than a clean directional signature.

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