# Session highs and lows

**TA-10 · Technical Analysis · Core**

**Lesson question:** Which session does the line actually describe?

Original fictional examples; educational writing, not live market data, orders or production approval.

## By the end

- Explain the mechanism in the lesson question.
- Reproduce the worked comparison and recognize its failure case.

**Prerequisites:** TA-01

A session high is its highest observed trade and a low its lowest. A rejected single print can set an extreme, so neither is automatically the boundary of accepted value. Instrument and session definitions are part of the number.

## Understand the mechanism

Completed prior-session extremes remain fixed; developing current-session extremes change. Keep cash, overnight and regional windows separate. Midnight and daylight-saving differences can make a vague 'today' label unreliable.

## Walk through the process

Mark the window first, then study retests, reclaims and acceptance. A failure rule might use a close back inside, but must be declared before the event. A familiar extreme does not establish the existence or size of stop orders there.

## Pause before deciding

Describe what the example actually establishes and what remains unknown. A technical observation supplies context, not an automatic options entry. Contract cost, horizon, liquidity and the consequence of failure still need to match the thesis. Record the contrary branch so a named pattern cannot become an excuse to ignore new evidence.

## A worked example

The completed overnight high is 102 and low 98. The next window trades 102.40 then closes a five-minute bar at 101.70. Under a close-back-inside rule that is a failed extension. The old high remains 102; the new session's high is a different reference.

## Graph: Session highs and lows—worked comparison

**Horizontal:** Session observation  
**Vertical:** Spot (USD)

Fictional data from the written example. The chart organizes the comparison; its shape is not a forecast.

Complete numerical data are embedded in `scripts/technical-analysis/TA-10.js` and displayed as an accessible table in the HTML lesson.

## What would invalidate the reading?

Calling the excursion a stop hunt assigns intent without evidence. Moving the old line to each new high makes the historical comparison meaningless.

## Check your understanding

### Does a session high necessarily mark accepted value?

**Answer:** No.

**Why:** It can be a rejected extreme.

### What is the critical failure to avoid?

**Answer:** Calling the excursion a stop hunt assigns intent without evidence. Moving the old line to each new high makes the historical comparison meaningless.

**Why:** Explain this risk before treating the example as a decision rule. A correct calculation does not guarantee a favorable market outcome. **Critical risk check.**

## Takeaway

Return to the question: Which session does the line actually describe? State the observed facts, the assumptions and the failure condition separately.

## References and provenance

The cited references support definitions and conventions. The teaching prose, tickets and numerical scenarios are original; they are not attributed as historical market observations.

- [Fidelity Technical Analysis Guide](https://www.fidelity.com/learning-center/trading-investing/technical-analysis)

- [Fidelity Chart Patterns Reference](https://www.fidelity.com/quick-content/etf/help/research/learn_er_quotes.shtml)