THE FOUNDRY LIBRARY
Research notes for discretionary and systematic traders who need the calculation contract, state transitions, and failure conditions behind a chart output. Each article separates what the source measures from what the display cannot establish.
11 FIELD NOTES
The collection moves from market context to exact implementation rules. Every note links to the closest Auction Foundry manual and published TradingView listing.
Price discovery · Balance · Acceptance · Rejection
A condition-first way to discuss price discovery, participation, acceptance, and rejection without turning description into prediction.
AskIs trade building around a price area, or moving in search of another one?Read Auction Market Theory
Liquidity · Displacement · Structure
A practical way to make popular liquidity and price-action labels explicit, testable, and modest about what a chart can reveal.
AskCan every label on the chart be defined before its outcome is known?Read ICT & Smart Money Concepts
Detection · Confirmation · Overlap · Lifecycle
The published implementation separates confirmed chart gaps from completed higher-timeframe source zones, then qualifies their overlap and tracks its lifecycle.
AskWhich completed source zones created the overlap, and what price event changes its state?Read How Fair-Value-Gap Confluence Is Calculated
Pivots · Confirmation · Break rules
Confirmed pivots and explicit break rules for reading local structure without hiding the delay required to know an extreme.
AskWhen did the chart actually know the swing existed?Read Swing Levels & Key References
Formation · Lock · Break · Retest · References
The published implementation separates a developing opening window from its locked range, confirmed lifecycle events, and independently timed session references.
AskIs this level part of the opening range, or a separate session statistic with a different clock?Read Opening Range vs. Session Reference Levels
Anchor · Volume · Dispersion
A volume-weighted price path whose meaning changes with the anchor, volume convention, session, and dispersion model.
AskWhy does this VWAP begin here, and what does its band calculation measure?Read Anchored VWAP & Deviation Bands
Formula · Anchor · Confluence
Formula-derived levels that organize prior ranges and selected extremes—but remain references rather than forecasts or targets.
AskWhich formula and completed range produced each line?Read Pivot & Fibonacci Reference Grids
Returns · Correlation · Beta
A guide to matching returns, separating direction from sensitivity, and reading changing relationships without treating them as stable laws.
AskAre the compared observations aligned, comparable, and numerous enough for the statistic?Read Correlation, Beta & Relative Movement
Realized range · ATR · Percentiles
How ADR, ATR, completed-session medians, and percentiles describe movement already observed—without becoming expected-move forecasts.
AskWhich historical range measure is today being compared with?Read Session Range & Volatility Context
Estimator · Rank · Absolute size · Term structure
The published implementation converts one of four realized-volatility estimators into historical rank, fixed tiers, an estimator-specific size override, term structure, and acceleration.
AskIs the reported tier coming from historical rank, the absolute-size override, or both?Read How Realized-Volatility Regimes Are Classified
Confirmation · Candidates · Validity · Retirement
The published implementation confirms pivots, tests candidate pairs against four validity rules, selects the nearest surviving line, and distinguishes violation from age retirement.
AskWhich confirmed pair survived every validity check, and what exact event removes it from the live set?Read How Confirmed-Pivot Auto Trendlines Work
Auction Foundry uses this order when a chart explanation mixes market mechanics, formulas, Pine behavior, and observed output.
Exchange, regulator, broker, and platform documentation defines the environment. It can explain order behavior, data conventions, sessions, and Pine execution—but not prove that a particular script behaves correctly.
The original paper, formula, or specification defines the method and its assumptions. A later explainer can help, but it should not silently replace the primary source.
Published source, inputs, and documentation state what this exact tool intends to calculate. They do not, by themselves, prove live rendering, alert delivery, or every edge case.
A chart, replay, or alert run can establish what one exact build did under recorded conditions. It is evidence for that scenario—not a general performance claim.
These are Auction Foundry standards, not universal market laws. Their purpose is to keep definitions reproducible, uncertainty visible, and illustrations in their proper place.
Define the rule before looking for the favorable example.
Record symbol, venue, session, timeframe, data source, and active inputs.
Separate developing values from confirmed values and disclose confirmation delay.
Treat unavailable data and insufficient samples as results—not blank space to fill with a guess.
Name the denominator, lookback, smoothing method, and usable sample size behind every statistic.
Keep thresholds and tolerances visible as implementation choices, not universal market laws.
Include counterexamples, quiet periods, gaps, holidays, and conditions where the display becomes less useful.
Do not count related formulas that reuse the same price inputs as independent confluence.
Separate a chart measurement from an order, fill, stop, position size, and risk decision.
Do not infer participant identity, intent, causality, or future direction from a price-bar pattern alone.
An illustration can explain geometry; it cannot establish profitability or likelihood.
When source, settings, or build identity changes, revalidate every conclusion that depends on it.
Start here when checking platform behavior, execution language, volatility methods, or the distinction between a chart reference and an executable order.
Bar-by-bar execution, realtime updates, rollback, confirmation, and restart behavior.
A precise vocabulary for historical-versus-realtime differences and unavoidable data changes.
Requested symbols, higher and lower timeframes, data gaps, and confirmation behavior.
Drawing geometry, coordinate systems, object limits, and garbage collection.
Why execution certainty and price certainty are different—and why chart levels are not fills.
The exchange process through which bids, offers, buyers, and sellers establish price.
What futures volume counts and why it cannot identify motive or direction by itself.
The primary high-low estimator paper referenced by volatility research.
A USEFUL READING SEQUENCE
A charting concept becomes easier to evaluate when its inputs, timing, and failure cases are visible before a favorable example appears.
Record the timeframe, session, lookback, formula, and confirmation event.
Compare developing and completed values, including examples that did not help.
A descriptive chart reference does not determine order behavior or position size.
CONTINUE EXPLORING
Review all 27 indicators and the chart question each one is built to answer.
→Published scriptsChoose a direct TradingView listingOpen the script collection without an account, checkout, or download from this site.
→Indicator manualsUnderstand settings before changing themRead behavior, limitations, troubleshooting, and 27 full references.
→Risk disclosure
Auction Foundry LLC provides educational charting tools and general market commentary only. This is not investment, financial, legal or tax advice, and nothing here is a recommendation, offer or solicitation to buy or sell any instrument. Auction Foundry is not registered with the SEC as an investment adviser, nor with the CFTC as a commodity trading advisor, and is not an NFA member.
Trading involves risk, including loss of principal. Losses can exceed a modeled stop and, for leveraged or margin products, can exceed the amount initially deposited or invested. Indicators can be wrong, delayed or unsuitable for your circumstances, and past or hypothetical results do not predict future results. Free access does not change any of this. Consider your objectives and consult a licensed professional before acting. Using these tools does not create an advisory or brokerage relationship.
Auction Foundry LLC is an independent publisher and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by TradingView, Inc. “TradingView” is a trademark of TradingView, Inc., used here only to identify the platform our scripts are published on. Scripts are published to TradingView as a community author on the same terms as any other author.
Read the full Risk Disclosure for the dated, versioned document this summarizes.
