Mapping Pre-Release Ranges on Daily Charts

The temptation before a major release is to redraw your range every time price pokes a new extreme. That habit creates noise. A useful pre-release range on a daily chart should reflect where price has actually spent time, not every spike that lasted one candle.

Start with the three full sessions preceding the announcement. Mark the highest close and lowest close within that window — not the absolute wicks unless they coincide with prior structure. If Wednesday's spike was rejected within an hour and never revisited, it belongs outside your box.

Once the box is drawn, note which edge price approached most recently. Traders often assume the nearest edge breaks first, but in employment releases I have seen more failures at the opposite boundary when the market was positioned for a directional surprise.

Print the chart. Mark the box in pencil first. Only ink it when you can explain in one sentence why each boundary matters. That discipline alone filters out half the arbitrary lines drawn under time pressure.