Range Trading

Range Trading

Profit from price oscillating between clear support and resistance in non-trending markets.

Identification

Range Characteristics

• Price bouncing between two levels with 2+ touches each side
• No clear HH/HL or LH/LL structure
• Volume decreasing during range
• Width at least 3% (narrower ranges are not worth trading)

Range Quality

| Factor | Strong | Weak | | --- | --- | --- | | Bounces | Clean, multiple (3+) | Sloppy, few | | Width | >3% | , exchange=, interval=)

ADX 25, this is a trend -- use momentum-trading or pullback-trading instead.

### 2. Identify Range Boundaries

getcandlesaround_date(symbol=, exchange=, interval=, date=)

Find flat support/resistance with 2+ touches each side.

### 3. Mark Range Levels

drawchartanalysis(action="create", drawing={ "type": "support", "points": [ {"time": , "price": }, {"time": , "price": } ], "options": {"text": "Range Support"} }) drawchartanalysis(action="create", drawing={ "type": "resistance", "points": [ {"time": , "price": }, {"time": , "price": } ], "options": {"text": "Range Resistance"} })

### 4. Trade at Boundaries

- **Buy at support**: Wait for rejection candle (hammer, engulfing), stop below support, target resistance
- **Sell at resistance**: Wait for rejection candle (shooting star, engulfing), stop above resistance, target support
- Only enter in the outer 20% of range -- never trade the middle
- Target 70-80% of range width (not the full range)

### 5. Report to Orchestrator

Range boundaries, width, number of touches, entry recommendation, stop level, target level. Flag if breakout appears imminent.

## Key Rules

- NEVER trade the middle of a range -- only enter at support/resistance boundaries
- NEVER enter without a rejection candle confirmation
- If price closes beyond the range boundary, stop trading the range -- a breakout is underway
- Volume surge at a boundary signals potential breakout, not a range trade
- Watch for failed bounces (weak rejection) as a sign the range is ending

## Related Skills

- **breakout-trading** -- when the range breaks, switch to breakout strategy
- **momentum-trading** -- ADX rising above 25 signals transition from range to trend

## Source & license

This open-source skill is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code.

- **Author:** [SKE-Labs](https://github.com/SKE-Labs)
- **Source:** [SKE-Labs/agent-trading-skills](https://github.com/SKE-Labs/agent-trading-skills)
- **License:** Apache-2.0

Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above.