Breakout

A breakout is price leaving a containing level to the upside: a range high, a prior swing high, or a pattern boundary. Traders usually require a close beyond the level, not only a wick. The breakout says the old ceiling did not hold. It does not say how far the move will go.

Mark the level first. A breakout is a close, on your timeframe, beyond it. Volume expansion and a wide range can support the idea that the break was accepted. They are not required for the definition.

Buying a breakout means buying strength and placing risk back inside the range, often under the breakout bar or under the level. The retest of the level is the more patient entry and it does not always come.

A breakout that closes back under the level is a false breakout. Shorting that failure is a different trade from shorting the breakout itself.

Calling an intrabar poke a breakout, and buying it after the candle has already travelled the entire measured move.

Breakouts fail often, especially from obvious ranges. The edge, if there is one, is in the filter: trend, close, and a pre-written invalidation. The word alone is not an edge.