A deliberate-looking push that triggers breakout entries and stop orders before reversing hard. Late traders are caught on the wrong side.
How to identify it
- Push through a well-watched level with no follow-through
- Volume or delta spike at the extreme
- Sharp reversal back through the level
Entry
Enter against the trap once price reclaims the level.
Stop loss
Beyond the trap extreme.
Target
The origin of the trap move and the opposite liquidity.
Invalidation
Price returns to make a new trap extreme.
Does it work for you?
Textbook reliability means little until you know your own numbers. Tag your stop hunt / trap trades in TradeZento and it shows your win rate, average win and loss, and P&L per trade for this pattern, so you know whether to keep it in your playbook.