The Break-Retest-Reclaim Entry Pattern

Published April 2026

The break is what gets the trader's attention. The retest is what confirms the level. The reclaim is what triggers the entry. Skip any of the three and you're guessing.

Why this pattern — and not the straight breakout

The intuitive way to trade an opening range breakout is: wait for price to close above the OR high, then enter. Close below, enter short. That is the textbook ORB entry. It is also why most retail ORB strategies fail on XAUUSD.

Spot Gold at the NY open is notorious for false breakouts. Price pokes above the OR high, triggers the impatient traders' entries, then reverses and sweeps their stops — before going in the correct direction. The traders who entered on the initial close get stopped out. The traders who waited for a pullback get filled at a better price in the right direction.

The break-retest-reclaim pattern codifies that patience. It enforces the wait. By requiring three phases rather than one, it filters out the probes that are only there to hunt early entries.

The three phases, in sequence

Phase 1 — Break

An M1 candle closes outside the OR boundary. For a long setup, the candle closes above the OR high. For a short, the candle closes below the OR low.

Two conditions must both hold:

• Close, not wick. The candle body must close beyond the level. A wick that pokes above the OR high and closes back inside does not count. Close is the only signal that matters.
• Body greater than 60 percent. The breakout candle must have a body-to-range ratio exceeding 60 percent. See the full analysis of why this filter works. Weak-bodied breakouts are fakeouts in progress.

The break phase produces the raw signal. It does not produce the entry. On a clean break, you do not pull the trigger — you move to Phase 2.

Phase 2 — Retest

After the break, price must pull back to the OR boundary it just broke. On a long, price needs to come back down to test the OR high from above. On a short, price needs to come back up to test the OR low from below.

The retest does not have to be pinpoint. A wick touching the level, or a full M1 candle printing with its low at or very near the level, both qualify. The important thing is that price returned and tested — it did not run away immediately.

If price does not retest — if it simply breaks and runs — you have a different setup on your hands. That is the secondary momentum entry (covered below), and it has its own criteria.

If the retest fails — if price breaks back inside the OR during the retest — the setup is dead. You do not enter. You wait for new information.

Phase 3 — Reclaim

The reclaim is the moment of entry. After the retest, an M1 candle must close back in the breakout direction. On a long, that's a candle closing above the OR high again, after having retested down to it. On a short, a candle closing below the OR low again, after having retested up to it.

Entry is placed at the close of the reclaim candle. Stop goes at the opposite side of the OR (structural). Take profit at 2.5R or the nearest named liquidity level, whichever comes first.

A worked example

13:30 UTC, NY open. Opening range forms between 13:30 and 13:45: high 2650.80, low 2649.60. OR width = 120 pips.

13:52 — An M1 candle closes at 2651.10, above the OR high. Range of that candle is 40 pips, body is 28 pips. Body/range = 70 percent. Passes the body filter. Break confirmed.

13:54 — The next candle prints a low of 2650.75, very close to the OR high (2650.80). A retest. The candle closes at 2651.00, still above the OR high. Retest complete, OR high held as support.

13:55 — The next candle closes at 2651.35. Higher than the previous close. Still above the OR high. This is the reclaim. Entry at 2651.35.

Stop goes at 2649.60 (OR low). Stop distance = 175 pips. Position size calculated from 1 percent risk divided by stop distance. Take-profit at entry + 2.5R = 2651.35 + (2.5 × 1.75) = 2655.73.

Pre-entry, check the path: is PDH between 2651.35 and 2655.73? If yes, cap TP2 at PDH and run R:R check (need 1.5R minimum). If no, 2.5R target is clear.

What breaks the pattern

The pattern is invalidated in three ways:

1. The retest candle closes inside the OR. If price pulls back and closes below the OR high on a long setup (or above the OR low on a short), the breakout is failing. The level is not holding. Do not enter.
2. The reclaim never comes. If after the retest, price fails to produce another close in the breakout direction within two or three M1 candles, the setup has stalled. Stand aside.
3. A second breakout fires on the opposite side. Rare, but possible. Price breaks out one way, fails, then breaks the other side. This is a liquidity sweep reversal pattern — an advanced setup for experienced traders only, not the standard break-retest-reclaim.

The secondary pattern — momentum expansion

Occasionally, the NY session produces a breakout that is so powerful it does not retest. The first breakout candle has a massive body (70+ percent), small wicks, rising ATR during the candle. The second candle continues strongly in the same direction.

In these cases, the retest never happens — and waiting for it means missing the move entirely. The momentum expansion entry allows for a direct entry on the open of the second candle, without waiting for a retest.

This is not a substitute for break-retest-reclaim. It is a secondary entry for a specific, unambiguous momentum profile. The criteria are strict: the breakout candle must be genuinely powerful — not just a normal breakout dressed up as momentum. If there is any doubt, wait for the retest. In practice, the momentum entry fires in only a minority of qualifying sessions.

The advanced pattern — liquidity sweep reversal

The third pattern, used only by experienced traders operating within the system, is the liquidity sweep reversal. Setup: the first break of the OR fails — price closes outside the OR, then immediately reverses and closes back inside. Subsequently, the opposite side breaks with a strong body. The thesis is that the first break was a stop hunt, and the real directional move is in the opposite direction.

This pattern requires that the reversed direction aligns with the overall bias (London profile, H4 structure, EMA 200). If the sweep-reversal would push you against bias, skip it. If it aligns with bias — and only then — the reversal can be taken.

For traders in replay or early live stages, stick to break-retest-reclaim. Sweep-reversals are a later-stage tool.

The non-negotiable rules

• Entry on candle body close only. Never on a wick. Never on a tick of price action.
• Stop at the structural level (opposite side of OR). Never tighter, never wider.
• Break-even at entry + 1R, automatic, no discretion.
• If the retest candle closes back inside the OR — walk away. No second chances.
• If a qualified setup does not form before 14:45 UTC — close charts, no new trades.

How this fits the overall framework

Break-retest-reclaim is the execution layer of a larger structure. Before the pattern fires, the entire pre-session checklist and A+ scorecard must be satisfied. A perfect break-retest-reclaim pattern on a Rule 4 day is still not a trade. A perfect pattern that fires after 14:45 UTC is still not a trade. A perfect pattern with a stop that puts R:R below 1.5 after a path-check obstruction is still not a trade.

The pattern is the trigger. The framework around it is the reason the trigger has a positive expectancy. Pattern without framework is a coin flip. Framework without pattern is paralysis. The two together, applied consistently, are the engine.