Why it matters
Two strategies with identical charts can have different outcomes because one depends on high fill quality and the other doesn’t.
Trading use: the point is not vocabulary. The point is prediction: what changes when this shows up?
Common trap
Judging execution only by whether you got filled. Being filled badly is often worse than not being filled at all.
Example
You ‘hit the setup’ but your average fill is consistently worse than the level by 0.3R. The strategy is not failing. The execution assumption is.
Operational cue: if you can’t point to it on the chart, in the DOM, or in your broker logs, treat it as a story and trade smaller.
Notes
Quick rule
- If you see this repeatedly, you are in a different regime than your model assumes.
- Regime change usually means position size change.
- When in doubt: trade smaller, or don’t trade.