Touch, test, reject, break

One level, four ways to meet it

Every element in this track draws a line or a zone. This lesson is about the other half — what happens when price arrives at one. DarkWave uses four words for that, and they mean specific things. Getting them straight is what lets a read say exactly what occurred instead of gesturing at it.

A touch is pure geometry: the bar’s range reached the level — its high and low straddled the price — nothing more. A test is stronger: price pushed into the level but closed back on the original side, within a volatility-scaled margin, so the level was probed and held. A rejection is a test that was thrown back hard — price not only closed back but closed back by a wide margin, a decisive turn away.

A touch is contact. A test is a probe that held. A rejection is a probe thrown back hard. A break is a close on the other side.

A break is the one that changes the picture: price closed clean through to the other side of the level. The distinction that matters most is between a wick and a close — a bar can spike through a level and still close back, which is a test, not a break. DarkWave waits for the close before it calls a break, and so should you. These four words are versioned and fixed, which is why a read written today means the same thing when you come back to it next month.