Breakouts have a bad reputation because most of them fail — especially in pinned positive gamma. But some ignite: a level breaks and price accelerates away with conviction. Reading the difference in real time is the momentum-ignition entry.

What a real ignition looks like

Three tells separate an ignition from a fake. Range expansion: the breakout candle is larger than the recent bars — a genuine change of pace, not a drift. Velocity: price moves away from the level quickly rather than hesitating at it. Follow-through: the pullback after the break is shallow and quickly reclaimed — sellers (or buyers) can't push it back inside. A weak poke that stalls at the level and drifts back is a fake; an expansion bar that runs is an ignition.

Entry, target, stop

Entry: on the ignition itself if it's clean, or — safer — on the shallow first pullback that holds above the broken level (a pullback entry). Target: the next level in the break's direction. Stop: back inside the level — if price re-enters the range, the ignition failed and it's now a failed breakout to fade.

An ignition expands, accelerates, and doesn't come back inside. If the break hesitates at the level, it's bait, not a trade.

The regime tiebreaker

Ignitions are far more common and reliable in negative gamma, where breaks accelerate as dealers chase. In positive gamma, treat most breaks as suspect — the base case is failure and reversion. So read the regime first: negative gamma tilts you toward trusting ignitions; positive gamma tilts you toward fading fakes. NoVo's map shows the regime and the wall so you know whether a break is likely to run or reverse.