📘 Candle Range Theory (CRT): How Smart Traders Use the Candle Itself to Control Risk and Profits

Most retail traders obsess over indicators, but smart money starts with the candle itself.
Candle Range Theory (CRT) is a price-action framework that treats a single impulsive candle as a complete trading map defining risk, targets, and profit management in one structure.

🔹 What Is Candle Range Theory?
CRT defines the full range of a strong expansion candle as a decision zone:
- CRT High: the high of the expansion candle
- CRT Low: the low of the expansion candle
This range represents where liquidity was taken and where commitment entered the market.
Once this candle prints, price reaction inside that range tells you whether continuation or distribution is more likely.

🔹 The Fifty Percent Rule: Where Smart Traders Reduce Risk
The midpoint (fifty percent) of the candle range is not random, it is a mean value zone.
Professional traders:
- Take partial profits at fifty percent
- Reduce exposure after the first reaction
- Let the remaining position run risk-free
Why?
Because markets often pause, react, or rotate around the midpoint before deciding the next leg. Locking partial profit here protects capital against false continuations.

🔹 The One Hundred Percent Rule: Where the Trade Is Complete
The full candle range (one hundred percent) is the logical final objective of the setup.
If price reaches:
- CRT High in a bullish scenario
- CRT Low in a bearish scenario
This is where:
- Liquidity objectives are fulfilled
- Expansion often stalls
- Full profit should be realized
Holding beyond this level without new structure is no longer trading, it becomes hoping.

🧠 Market Psychology Behind CRT
CRT works because it aligns with how liquidity moves:
- Expansion candles represent aggressive participation
- The midpoint attracts reaction and defense
- The full range completes order-flow objectives
Instead of predicting, CRT reacts to what price has already revealed.

✅ Why CRT Is Powerful
- No indicators
- No lag
- Built-in risk management
- Clear, objective profit rules
If you can read one candle correctly, you already have an edge.

🧩 Final Thought
CRT is not about finding more trades — it’s about managing the trade you already have like a professional.
Trade the range.
Respect the midpoint.
Exit at completion.
That’s how smart traders survive and grow.