Month 1 · Lesson 8

Impulse Price Swings & Market Protraction

Three protraction moves per 24 hours — the manipulation that seeks liquidity before the real move.

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Impulse Price Swings

When you look at price action, think in terms of impulse price swings — high down to a low, up to a high, down to a low, over and over. Inside the impulse swings is where the detail lives. But there are smaller, more specific impulse swings with far more influence: the ones that are manipulative.

Market Protraction

Protraction is a time-sensitive impulse price swing — a small move that is highly sensitive to the time of day, designed and intended for manipulation only. It runs counter to the major direction you'll see after that time of day: if it moves higher at the protraction time, think the opposite direction. Its design is to fake out those who chase the initial move — to draw participants onto the wrong side, or to reach for liquidity (e.g. clearing out lows before the rally).

The 3 Protraction Times (per 24h)

0 GMT (8 PM NY)

One small move away right at the day's delineation — Asia isn't that influential beyond this

After midnight NY

The London protraction — the Judas swing: a false initial move (a false rally to sell into when bearish)

After 7 AM NY

The New York protraction — if London moved lower, expect the retracement higher that entices buyers, then the reversal. It has to happen after 7 o'clock.

Blending it with Month 1Measure the impulse swing down, wait for the retracement above equilibrium into the 62% premium — sell there expecting the run below the old lows (find them in previous days). After an impulse swing, the protraction phase reaches into a premium/discount level, then the next expansion takes out the stops below the equal lows. Use this for session drills — it builds context for your practice and your anticipatory price skills.

Tip from the notes: hold Ctrl and tap Y (on the platform) to add the vertical 0 GMT delineations so you can see the time-sensitive swings.