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Inside Bar Breakoutmother bar range break, trend-gated

Evidence: WeakBeginnerPrice Action · Breakout

An inside bar sits entirely within the previous bar's high-low range. Both conditions are required: high < mother high and low > mother low.

Entry on the break of the mother bar's high or low, and only in the direction of the prevailing trend.

This is a trigger, not a strategy. Without the trend gate it has no standalone edge — and this page is not going to pretend otherwise.

Category
Price Action · Breakout
Timeframe
H4 · D1 — it becomes meaningless below H4
Suitable pairs
EURUSD · GBPUSD · USDJPY · AUDUSD · XAUUSD
Session
Signal at the bar close · execute in liquid hours
Indicators / tools
Pure OHLC · EMA(20) trend gate · ATR(14)

Valid setup

S08 · INSIDE BAR BREAKOUT INSIDE A TREND — VALID SETUP USDJPY · H4 · the inside bar is a trigger, not a strategy — the trend filter is what makes it one LONG 147.62 148.96 150.30 151.64 152.98 154.32 155.66 MOTHER BAR RANGE ENTRY = buy stop above mother-bar high SL below mother-bar low TP1 = 1 × mother-bar range TP2 = 2 × mother-bar range 1R +2R 1 2 3 4 5 ① Uptrend in place, price above EMA20 — this gate is mandatory. Without it the inside bar has no edge. ② MOTHER BAR — a normal wide-range bar. ③ INSIDE BAR: high < mother high AND low > mother low. ④ Break of the mother-bar high, in the trend direction only — never the other way ⑤ If 3 bars pass without 1R of movement → time-exit. A stalled breakout is a failed breakout. 151.90 151.24 150.58 149.88 EMA 20 (trend filter) mother bar

Exact rules

Entry

  • Confirm the inside bar at the bar close: high[0] < high[1] and low[0] > low[1].
  • Trend gate: close above EMA(20) → take the upper break only. The reverse for shorts.
  • BUY stop = mother bar high + spread + 1 pip. SELL stop = mother bar low − spread − 1 pip.
  • Pending orders are valid for two bars, then cancelled.
  • Log a multi-bar inside sequence — two or three consecutive inside bars — as a separate sub-variant. Do not mix them.

Stop loss

  • Two to three pips beyond the opposite extreme of the mother bar.
  • A tight stop buys a good reward-to-risk and costs a higher stop-out rate. That trade-off is the defining feature of this pattern.
  • Risk 0.5%–1%.

Take profit / exit

  • TP1 = 1 × mother bar range, taken as a partial.
  • TP2 = 2 × mother bar range, or the next structural level.
  • Time exit: no 1R within three bars → exit, whatever the result.

Build Inside Bar Breakout

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More from Breakout

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Trading carries risk and most retail accounts lose money. Nothing on this page is financial advice or a recommendation to trade. The chart is an illustration of the rules on constructed candles — it is not a record of a trade and not a backtest.