# Strategies: Direction, Area, Trigger

Source: https://tactiq.pro/docs/strategies · Trading ideas · updated 2026-10-31

A Tactiq strategy is a fixed rule with three questions in order: Direction, Area and Trigger. All three must say yes before a signal appears.

A Tactiq strategy is a fixed rule that looks for a trade idea on closed candles. Each one asks three questions in order. All three must say yes.

| Question | Name | What Tactiq checks |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Which way is the market leaning? | Direction | Four yes-or-no questions on closed **daily** bars: is the close above its 5-bar mean? above its 20-bar mean? are highs and lows rising (confirmed swings)? is it above the middle of last week's range? Four up answers is *Strong up* and three is *Mostly up*; four down answers is *Strong down* and three is *Mostly down*; anything else is *Neutral*. Tactiq never raises a signal against a strong Direction. |
| Where does a reaction make sense? | Area | A price zone built on at least one heavy zone, flow zone or order block, where other references overlap it, such as the auction levels, last week's high and low and the Asia range. Levels alone never make an Area. Same-side zones within 0.1 ATR merge. An Area is **prime** (a heavy and a flow zone overlap), **strong** (two zone kinds, or two or more references) or **normal**. Setups act only at **key** Areas: prime, strong, or one that holds a heavy zone. |
| Has the market shown its hand? | Trigger | The last *closed* candle shows something at the Area. **Rejection:** price traded into the Area and closed back out, with sellers absorbed or delta turned. **Acceptance:** price closed beyond the Area on 1.5× normal volume with delta behind the break. **CVD divergence.** |

### The four setups

| Setup | Direction | Area | Trigger | Entry and stop |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Zone hold | With the Direction, or against one that is not strong | Key support or resistance | Rejection | Limit at the near edge. Stop beyond the Area and the candle, plus 0.15 ATR. |
| Break and retest | With the Direction only | A key Area on the other side of price, as it stood *before* the break | Acceptance | Limit at the Area's edge (the retest). Stop back past its middle, plus 0.15 ATR. |
| Heavy push | With the Direction only | A heavy zone formed in the last 3 candles whose response was "followed" | The candle closed its way | Limit at the zone's near edge. Stop beyond it, plus 0.15 ATR. |
| Look above and fail | With, or against a non-strong Direction | Yesterday's high or low, value edges, last week's high or low | Traded beyond, closed back inside, with absorbed aggression or a CVD divergence | Now. Stop beyond the candle's extreme, plus 0.15 ATR. |

### Three families, side by side

The same four setups run as swing trades on three timeframes. Each family has its own record and holds one idea at a time. The 30-minute and 1-hour families both run, so you can compare them.

| Family | Trigger candle | Distances in | Holds up to |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Intraday swing 30m | 30-minute | 30m ATR | 2 days |
| Intraday swing 1h | 1-hour | 1h ATR | 2 days |
| Multi-day swing | 4-hour | 4h ATR | 10 days |

The 30-minute and 1-hour families can call the same Area on the same hour. That is a comparison, not a duplicate. Two ideas with the same side, the same stop and almost the same entry are one trade, whichever setup found them.

Tactiq also runs four older setups that read levels and the order book: sweep and reclaim, breakout then retest, absorption at a zone, and flush and recover. The Signals page shows each strategy in its own record.

> Strategies are rules, not forecasts. They never re-fit themselves. A change to a rule is a new version that the owner approves, and versions are never mixed in one record.