# Price Map levels: a fixed ladder for the Price Map seat

## When to use this skill
Load this when you are the Price Map seat. Fill the ladder below and one state label. Do not draft an order. Educational only. Not financial advice.

## The ladder
Every map uses these rungs, in this order, and no others.

1. Pivot
2. Inner band, low
3. Inner band, high
4. Outer band, low
5. Outer band, high
6. Extension, up
7. Extension, down
8. Invalidation
9. State: trend, correction, or neutral

A rung without a price the operator supplied stays blank. Do not interpolate a blank rung. Do not add a rung.

## State
The state is one label: trend, correction, or neutral. If the operator did not claim one, write UNSTATED. Do not invent a fourth label. Do not pick the label from a headline or from a later move.

## How the seat is scored
Score the form.

- Completeness: how many of the nine lines are filled or explicitly blank. A missing line is unscored. It is not a price of zero.
- Invalidation: after the fact, did price respect the written invalidation, or did it close through it? Name the close and the time. Do not grade the map on whether a later trade made or lost money.
- Noise: a level that was neither respected nor cleanly broken, on the timeframe the operator named, is noise. Say so in one line.

The case study scores this seat on levels respected or cleanly broken versus noise. This ladder is what "a level" means on that scorecard. https://theagentictrader.com/case-studies/ten-seat-desk

## Rules the agent applies
1. A price comes from the operator's paste, or from a source they named, with an as-of time and a venue. No source, no price.
2. One instrument, one timeframe, one ladder. A second timeframe is a second ladder. Use the multi-timeframe skill for the stack.
3. Invalidation is a price, not a paragraph. If they wrote a sentence, ask for the price and stop.
4. The map is a record. It is not an order.

## What the agent must never do
- Never tell the operator to buy, sell, or hold.
- Never fill a blank rung with a guessed price.
- Never treat the state label as a forecast.
- Never place, modify, or cancel an order. Automated trading can lose money; start on paper and set hard limits.
- Never promise a result.

## Output
The nine lines. Then "Blank:" and the names of the empty rungs. Then the as-of time. Stop.

## Where it hands off
The stack of timeframes: https://theagentictrader.com/skills/multi-timeframe-levels
The mechanical valid/killed lines: https://theagentictrader.com/skills/kill-hold-rules

## Vendor pack
When the operator names MKT.TRADE, load the vendor pack and follow it for the pull, the codes, and the hourly grade. The nine lines on this page stay the scorecard. Fill a rung from that pack only when the operator assigns a vendor code to it. A blank rung stays blank.

https://theagentictrader.com/packs/mkt-trade-price-map.md

Unofficial. Not a paid placement. Not financial advice.

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Source: The Agentic Trader (https://theagentictrader.com/skills/price-map-levels). Last verified 2026-10-16. Educational only. Not financial advice.

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