Day Trading Setups
Bear Flag Breakdown
A hard decline pauses in a tight, slightly rising drift instead of a real bounce, then gives way again. The short side of the same rest-and-continue idea as a bull flag, fit by hand instead of taken on faith.
Fit the box, then arm the short
Drag the two handles on the right edge of the chart to fit a box around the consolidation after the decline. The score below is computed live off the real bars: how much of the consolidation your box actually contains, and how much volume contracted inside it compared to the decline that came before. Clear the threshold and Arm Short activates, using your own box bottom as the breakdown trigger and your box top as the stop.
Box validity score
Drag the gold handles on the right to box in the consolidation.
How it works
- The decline is the pole, measured the same way as a bull flag's, just inverted. A fast multi-bar drop on rising simulated volume sets the pole height that later becomes the measured-move target.
- Containment is a real percentage, not a visual guess. The tool checks how many of the consolidation bars' full range actually sits inside your dragged box, out of 100%, updated the instant you move a handle.
- Volume contraction is the second half of the score. A genuine flag rests on lighter volume than the move that built it. The ratio shown compares real average volume inside your box to real average volume during the decline.
- Once armed, the trigger is your own box, not a hidden "correct" answer. The short fills the moment a real bar closes below your box's bottom edge, stop at the box top, target measured as the box bottom minus the pole's own height.
Where this breaks
A well-fit box can still just be a bottom forming, not a rest
Containment and volume contraction describe the shape of a pause, they don't know why the pause is happening. The exact same tight, quiet, lower-volume drift that makes a textbook bear flag also happens when sellers are simply running out and buyers are stepping in underneath, which is how a decline actually ends. A high validity score means the box fits the data well, it does not mean the next move is down. The flag failing back above the box top in this simulator is that second possibility playing out, and it happens on a real share of well-scored setups too.