Zone lifecycle states: from approaching to invalidated

Setups fail in two ways: the market proves them wrong, or the trader loses track of where they are. The lifecycle exists to eliminate the second failure. Every zone is always in exactly one state:

The five states

• Approaching. Price is closing in but has not entered. Homework time: read the derivation, note the invalidation, set an alert.
• In zone. Price is inside the cluster. The test is live and the ladder starts reading reversal evidence.
• Trigger. The first (fast) timeframe confirms. The zone is producing a reaction; whether it is durable is still open.
• Confirmed. Multiple timeframes agree the zone is holding. This is the state most traders should care about, and the one the scanner surfaces hardest.
• Invalidated. Price broke through and closed beyond the zone. The setup is dead. The chart says so plainly, and the map moves on.

Why invalidation is first-class

Most tools quietly stop mentioning a level once it fails. FibSetups does the opposite: invalidation is a state with the same standing as confirmation, because a failed zone is information. Support that breaks decisively often matters as much as support that holds — and a trader who saw the invalidation labeled is a trader who is not still hoping.

Where you see it

Lifecycle states appear on scanner rows, drive the scanner’s filters (“in zone only,” “confirmed only”), group your watchlists, and gate alert rules. One vocabulary everywhere, so “where is this setup in its life?” always has a one-word answer.