Drift: the slow break, with thin participation
Drift is the opposite of displacement: price moves past a level, but it gets there by sliding, with small bars that overlap. A reading states it because it changes how much that break weighs.
Updated 2026-10-02
This page explains a term of the method and how to check it against public data. It does not say what to do in any market.
Definition
A structure break made by slow, overlapping bars with thin participation.
The level is crossed, but without the wide, fast bars of a displacement. Overlapping bars mean buyers and sellers are still trading control back and forth: the break is there, the conviction less so.
How a reading uses it
A drift break is neither ignored nor inflated: it is published as such. In Meridian Engine readings it mostly serves to write the counter-case, the version of the facts that would lead to a different conclusion.
Example from the gold reading
Two of the three structure breaks were graded indeterminate and drift: thin participation, published as such in the "Data and limits" block. The reading set them beside another fact, the compression near a multi-day low, which is as consistent with a base being built as with a move continuing.
Read: the reading XAUUSD, 24 September 2026 · all readings on XAUUSD
How to spot it yourself
Look at the hourly bars around the level that was crossed: if they are narrow relative to ATR and overlap one another, the break is slow. The useful comparison is with the displacement break in the same reading, when there is one.
Related terms
Band · Liquidity pool · Sweep · Displacement · Shelf
Published readings
Three complete analyses, with the conditions written in advance and the outcome checked against public data:
BTCUSD, 9 August 2026 · XAUUSD, 24 September 2026 · BTCUSD, 1 October 2026 (no trade)
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