The Mapping Lab
Use this six-stage desk routine before a session or during your own weekly chart preparation.
01 — Strip the chart
Remove old drawings and indicators. Keep price, volume if genuinely used, instrument, exchange and timeframe. Record the date so later review cannot confuse old information with new.
02 — Establish the visible auction
Mark the dominant swing high, swing low and current location within that range. Do not drop immediately to a lower timeframe; nearby noise can disguise the structure that gives a level meaning.
03 — Nominate candidate zones
Look for repeated reactions, consolidation boundaries, failed breaks and clear support-resistance role reversals. Use a pencil or temporary colour. Candidates have not yet earned permanent status.
04 — Challenge each mark
Ask what evidence fixes both boundaries, whether the zone is too wide for a useful invalidation and whether another nearby mark duplicates the same information. Delete any line defended only by “it looks important.”
05 — Write three conditional paths
Describe a hold, an accepted break and a failed break. Each statement needs observable confirmation and invalidation. Avoid directional certainty; the purpose is to prepare for distinct behaviour.
06 — Save before price moves
Archive an image with the date and scenario notes. Review it after the sequence resolves without redrawing the original. This final step separates practice from hindsight.
Ready to apply the sheet to your own market? Ask for a mapping session.