You day trading? Swing? longer term? I have a system that is very reliable that trades horizontal breakouts but it is a day trading technique very specific to the time of day (among a long list of other tings) - which makes a huge difference in it's success rate. It is also very specific to the stock and how it moves as to whether to hit the break or wait for pullback and resumption. Did the break come at a "figure", "half-fig" or other price? What was the spread as it broke? How many times did was it rejected before it broke? Does stock tick with the markets or $TICK? Volume, trader pivot levels and more.......A lot of variables need to be considered when considering a technique.
First of all, I feel that there are many other more profitables scenarios for doing trades at other times of market activity. The breakout trade you are using as an edge only occurs every so often. The KISS for entry, then exit: 1. Draw the container of the instrument. Generically this is a channel. 2. As price approaches the LTL, assure yourself that there is a geomtry available for the BO of the left trend line to be handled as an ACCERATION of the price movement within the contraints of the channel. That is on the opposite ends of the prior bar and the bar of the potential BO, a line may be drawn that is steeper, trendwise than already exists. Draw it before the BO as a RTL and also draw the LTL from the prior bar opposite end. Note that relative volume is increasing as well. 3. If 2. is possible and done then enter upon the BO value. BO is your invention as a signal. 4. Monitor the current price and assure it remains beyond the BO value at close. Scope this offset in as a line sloped at the angle of the prior LTL and from the extreme end of the BO bar. This region is the "zone". 5. A new bar begins and "translation" is maintained. Hold as the new bars fill the accelerated container (parallelogram). 6. Note the continuing advancement of the steeper trend and volume increasing. 7. Note the newer bars reach the LTL or nearly so and the bar to bar overlap is not getting greater. Hold. 8. Note volume continues to increase. 9. After peaking volume (PRV it 12 or more seconds into the forming bar), you will be exiting as a second chance. The BO is over. 10. After the maximim excursion the bar will be on the accelerated RTL. 11. The bar will pass through the RTL as sentiment has changed. It could be, geometrically below your entry. BO trading the LTL occurs not too often. You can get into any potential BO trade much earlier anyway as has been pointed out. Look at the channel you constructed. Either of the two points of the channel (forming the RTL) are a better beginning point. ALL BO's happen AFTER the channel can be drawn. By steps 7, 8 and 9, you are in the exit territory. Here it is valuable to have a leading indicator of the price you are trading. There are many. For SCT traders this is a VE situation and you are simply accelerating the sub 3 of a BBT ordinarily on the way to an FTT. The sub extends to the LTL and a VE occurs. You accelerate the sub container when possible. All VE's are exited when the close is not in the Zone (do the exit by a spike analysis). This is an FBO in the old lingo. Ordinarily you are in the trade from pt 3 on the original RTL. NB. IF close is in the zone, then a M1 and M2 will occur and the FTT is at the end of the M2.
Here is an ilustration from today (13JAN10) on bars 24 through 26 of the ES. As I prefaced in my prior post, there are other things going on most of the time that surround this trade.
Attached is a composite of your illustration and my illustration. From my point of view, the OP has stated and then confirmed that he is discussing range BO's in the direction of the side of the range being tested. (The left trend line) I posted on that concern of his. You may see that others suggested the opportunity he is interested in is only one of many trading edges people use and maybe not the greatest. Your illustration is what I call a trend BO and in particular a failed trend BO. If may be that the OP was not asking about what you illustrated. My illustration is a LEFT trend BO and your illustration is a RIGHT trend breakout. They are two different things. Each is a separate edge trading opportunity. Of course your illustration is one of the most popular trading edges used by people AND it illustrates how a person can use volume to take profits at the best place even though subsequently the break out fails. On my original post a said the bars were 24 through 26,; actually they were bars 23 through 25.
Who is gonna take advice from a 70+ year old geezer living at his girlfriend's house who still works while he claims to make gargantuan profits trading ? LOL Such is the legend (myth) of Jack Hershey.
I've noticed the only people that are sucked in by Jack seem to be traders who have English as a 2nd language, seriously they are not as dumb as a sack of doorknobs, they just think he's saying something intelligent because they see a bunch of words that panders to dreamers and hopers