How this works
What this measures, and what it does not.
This page explains the whole method: what a base is, why it matters, how each screen decides, how to read a result, and where the method fails. Read it before acting on anything else on the site.
What this site is
This is a measuring instrument, not a tip service. After every close it scans every liquid stock on the exchange and records the same handful of facts about each one: whether it is building a base, how tight that base is, whether volume is drying up, where the breakout level sits, and whether a breakout that already happened worked or failed.
Nothing is chosen by hand. A stock either meets the published definition or it does not, and the identical test runs across the whole market. There is no list of favourites, no name added because it looked interesting, and no result quietly dropped afterwards because it went the wrong way.
The anatomy of a base
A base is a pause. A stock runs up, stalls, and then trades sideways underneath that high for weeks or months. During that pause, people who bought earlier decide whether to sell, and people who want in decide whether to pay up. The pause is where that argument gets settled.
- 1The ceilingThe high the stock reached before it stalled. Everything below is the base; the ceiling is what it has to get through.
- 2DepthHow far it fell from that ceiling. A shallow base suggests holders are not in a hurry to sell. Too shallow and it is not a base at all, just a stock barely trading.
- 3ContractionsEach pullback inside the base. When they get progressively shallower — 24%, then 13%, then 6% — sellers are running out. That sequence is the signal, not any single number.
- 4Volume drying upFalling volume through the base means the people who wanted out have mostly left. There is less supply overhead when it does move.
- 5The pivotThe price it must close above for the pause to be resolved upward. Every screen on this site ultimately measures distance to a pivot.
- 6The breakoutA close above the pivot. A close — not an intraday poke through. Stocks pierce resistance and fall back constantly, and counting those would fill the screens with failures.
The screens, and what each hunts
Each screen hunts a different kind of setup. The thresholds below are read live from your settings, so this page always describes what the engine is actually doing.
| Screen | What it hunts | Thresholds in force |
|---|---|---|
| VCP | Pullbacks getting progressively shallower on falling volume as price presses the pivot. The tightest, and the rarest. | 2–6 contractions · volatility ratio below 1.00 · within 15% of pivot |
| Blue Sky | Bases forming at or near an all-time high, where there is no overhead supply left from previous buyers waiting to get out. | Within 5% of the all-time high · relative strength 70–99 |
| Multi-Year | Consolidations a year or longer, above the 200 DMA — a stock that has spent years going nowhere and is now pressing against the ceiling. | Base of 52 weeks or longer · above the 200 DMA · relative strength 60–99 |
| IPO Base | Recent listings building their first base. Deliberately does not require relative strength: a stock listed twelve weeks ago has no twelve-month return to rank. | Listed 2–50 weeks ago · base depth 2–35% · above the 50 DMA · no relative strength required |
IPO Base deliberately requires no relative strength. A stock listed twelve weeks ago has no twelve-month return, so it can never be ranked — demanding a rating there would guarantee an empty screen forever.
How to read a result
A row on a screen says one thing: this stock currently meets a published definition. It is a starting point for your own work, not a conclusion.
What tends to look constructive
- A tightening contraction sequence — each pullback shallower than the last.
- Volume falling through the base, then expanding sharply on the breakout day.
- Price close to the pivot, so the risk to a sensible stop is small.
- Strong relative strength, meaning it has already outperformed most of the market.
- A base long enough to represent a real pause rather than a few quiet days.
What should give you pause
- Price far below the pivot. The setup may be real, but it is not actionable yet, and a stop placed here is a wide one.
- A very deep base. It qualifies, but the stock fell a long way, and that is a different situation from a shallow pause.
- Volume expanding through the base rather than drying up — supply is still coming out.
- A thinly traded stock. The pattern may be real and still impossible to enter or exit at the prices shown.
- A stock already extended far above its pivot. The move has happened; buying late means a much wider stop.
Notice that none of this says "buy". Two stocks can both qualify for the same screen and be entirely different propositions once you look at the chart, the liquidity, and what the company actually does.
What happens after a breakout
Risk is decided before entry, not after. The default is about 1.5% of capital on any one trade, with an initial stop roughly 8% below the entry. Position size follows from the stop distance — a tighter stop earns a larger position, because both risk the same money if they fail.
- 1Buy the breakoutas it closes through the pivot
- 2Set the stopdecided before entry, sized so a loss is survivable
- 3Move to break-evenonce the trade is up enough that it need never lose
- 4Raise the stopas it climbs, but never lower it
- 5Step offwhen the trend breaks
A stop never moves down. That is not a preference — a stop that can widen turns a defined risk into an open-ended one, and it is how a small loss becomes the one that matters.
Where this fails
41% of the 7434 breakouts measured so far were positive twenty sessions later.
This method is wrong more often than it is right. It works — when it works — because the winners are far larger than the many small, capped losses. That asymmetry is the entire edge, and it only appears over many trades and through real drawdowns. If you take five signals and judge the method on them, you have learned nothing about the method.
It cannot see the company
This measures price and volume. It knows nothing about earnings, debt, management, a pending lawsuit or a regulatory change. A perfect-looking base on a failing company is still a failing company.
It cannot see liquidity properly
A pattern in a thinly traded stock may be real and still impossible to trade at the prices shown. The screens filter on volume, but no filter substitutes for looking.
Backtests are hypothetical
Historical figures come from applying fixed rules to past data. No money was at risk, there is no liquidity model, commission and slippage are estimates, and the thresholds were chosen while looking at that same history.
Market conditions dominate
Breakouts fail far more often when the broad market is falling. The Market page exists so you can see that before assuming a run of failures means the method broke.
The thresholds are a judgement
No public source discloses an exact definition of a base or a pivot. The numbers here are documented, conventional starting points, adjustable, and stored with every result — so a later comparison can settle them rather than assuming.
Common questions
Which stock should I buy?
This site will not tell you. It reports which stocks currently meet a published definition, and what happened to stocks that met it in the past. Choosing between them, sizing a position, and deciding whether to act at all are yours — and if you want personal advice, that is a job for a registered adviser who knows your circumstances.
A screen is empty. Is it broken?
Usually not. These setups are uncommon by design, and in a weak market whole screens legitimately return nothing for days. Every screen states how many bases it examined, so you can tell the difference between "nothing qualified" and "nothing was checked".
Why does a stock I expected not appear?
Search its symbol on the screen. When nothing matches, the page reports which specific criterion it failed and by how much, rather than leaving you to guess.
How much history do I need?
Relative strength needs a full year before it can rank anything, so a year is the practical minimum. Multi-Year needs the base itself to be a year or longer, which in turn needs several years loaded. Blue Sky needs enough history that an all-time high means something.
Does a breakout mean the stock will rise?
No. It means the stock closed above a level it had previously been rejected at. Most of the value in the method comes from cutting the ones that fail quickly, not from the ones that work.
Information only, not investment advice. We are not registered investment advisers, and nothing on this site is a recommendation to buy, sell or hold any security. Historical figures are backtests, not a live track record. Trading carries a substantial risk of loss. Do your own research and consult a registered adviser before investing.