Playbook 03 · Slide 03 of 10 · Classification · Three Day Types · Each Requires Different Strategy

Day Classification

The bracket classifies the day into three types. Each type has its own playbook. Mixing them up is the #1 reason traders lose money on School Run days.

Trend Day

Buy Dips

Never fade

Trend Short

Sell Rallies

Never buy

Range Day

Fade Edges

Never chase

▲ Trend Day (Long)

Signal: Price breaks above the bracket high and holds

Confirmation: Price stays above the bracket high for >15 minutes

Strategy: Buy every pullback to the bracket high or VWAP

Target: Measured move or session high

Stop: Below the bracket high

Never: Fade the breakout. You will get run over.

"When the market shows you its hand, don't argue with it." — Tom Hougaard

▼ Trend Day (Short)

Signal: Price breaks below the bracket low and holds

Confirmation: Price stays below the bracket low for >15 minutes

Strategy: Sell every rally to the bracket low or VWAP

Target: Measured move or session low

Stop: Above the bracket low

Never: Buy the dip. The market is telling you it's going down.

Trend short days are rarer but often more violent. Respect the signal.

↔ Range Day

Signal: Price keeps bouncing off the bracket edges — neither breaks out nor breaks down

Confirmation: Two or more touches of the same bracket edge

Strategy: Fade the extremes — buy near bracket low, sell near bracket high

Target: The opposite bracket edge

Stop: Just outside the bracket edge

Never: Chase the middle. The edges are where the money is.

"The best fish are caught in ranges." — Tom Hougaard

⚠ The #1 Mistake: Buying pullbacks on a range day, or fading breakouts on a trend day. The bracket tells you the day type — but only if you listen. If price breaks out and you say "it'll come back," you're trading range day logic on a trend day. That's how accounts get destroyed.

Decision Flowchart

1. Has the bracket high been broken with a 5-min close above it? → Trend Long

2. Has the bracket low been broken with a 5-min close below it? → Trend Short

3. Has price touched the same bracket edge twice without breaking? → Range Day

4. None of the above? → Wait. Don't trade until the day type is clear.