Glossary · Trading basics

Range (sideways market)

A period when price moves back and forth between a roughly horizontal ceiling and floor without making progress in either direction.

By Sky Trade editorial teamUpdated November 5, 2026

A range — also called a sideways or flat market — forms when buyers and sellers are roughly balanced. Price bounces between support at the bottom and resistance at the top, and neither side manages to push it out.

Ranges are common, especially in quiet trading hours, and they reward a different approach from trends. Trend-following signals such as moving-average crossovers tend to fire repeatedly and fail inside a range, while mean reversion ideas — fading moves near the edges — fit better. Indicators like ADX help tell the two regimes apart.

The danger is assuming the range will hold forever. Every range ends in a breakout, and the last bounce trade before it is often the one that loses. Many traders also misjudge the edges: a range boundary is a zone, not a line drawn to the pip.

When choosing an expiry inside a range, think about how long price typically takes to travel from one edge to the other; a longer expiry can carry you straight through to the opposite side. See market structure.

Example

EUR/GBP spends the morning between 0.8540 and 0.8562. A Lower trade from 0.8561 works three times; on the fourth touch price breaks out and climbs to 0.8575.

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