A few times a year, each company reports its results. The stock can move a lot overnight on the news, and it often opens far from where it closed. That's a gap.
Why this matters for a breakout
A hub, a shelf and a "wrong if" level all assume price moves step by step. A gap ignores them: it can skip straight past your aim, or straight past your exit, before you can do anything.
How NextShelf flags it
When a stock reports within two weeks, it gets a violet Earnings pill, and the Shelf card warns you. Alerts get an extra line when earnings are within a week.
What traders do about it
- Close the trade before earnings, or
- Hold a smaller position that can survive a gap against you, or
- Skip setups that would still be open on the earnings date.
Holding through earnings isn't wrong, but it's a separate bet from the breakout.
- Earnings can gap a stock past every level on the chart.
- NextShelf shows an Earnings pill and a warning in the Shelf card.
- Holding through earnings is a separate decision from the breakout.
Your breakout's exit is $48. The stock reports overnight and opens at $44. What happened?
Educational content only, not financial advice. See today's setups in NextShelf →