A fake breakout, or false breakout, occurs when price crosses a level treated as support or resistance but fails to remain beyond that boundary and returns to the previous area. Traders also call this outcome a fakeout.
How it is identified
The term describes the outcome, not one universal chart shape. The level, timeframe, and confirmation rule must be defined before the signal—for example, a close beyond the level or a successful retest. The same intraday move may therefore be false under one rule and still unresolved under another.
Technical distinction
A false breakout can occur in either direction. A bull trap is the upside case that attracts buyers before price falls back; not every false breakout is a bull trap. The full Breakout entry explains the break and its confirmation without treating it as a certain forecast.
Sources
- CME Group, Support and Resistance — Defines levels, breaks, and role reversal between support and resistance while explaining that levels are zones rather than guaranteed prices.
- CME Group, Technical Patterns: Reversals — Explains confirmation and the predictive limits of technical patterns.