Pattern Library

VCP

Volatility Contraction Pattern

Minervini's signature setup. Three or more progressively tighter price contractions inside a base — each with a smaller range and declining volume. The stock is shaking out weak holders and building a tight coil before the breakout.

Cup & Handle

Cup and Handle Base

O'Neil's classic setup from 'How to Make Money in Stocks.' A rounded U-shaped base (the cup) followed by a short, shallow pullback (the handle). The handle shakes out the last weak holders before the breakout.

Bull Flag

Bull Flag Continuation

A tight, orderly pullback after a sharp vertical advance. The flag trades sideways or slightly downward on declining volume, then resolves with a breakout that continues the prior uptrend.

Pocket Pivot

Discovered by Gil Morales and Chris Kacher (former O'Neil portfolio managers). A volume surge off a key moving average where the up-day volume exceeds any down-day volume in the prior 10 sessions — institutional accumulation footprint inside an uptrend.

Three Weeks Tight

A Minervini-style tightness signal: three consecutive weekly closes within roughly 1% of each other. It signals strong institutional holding — supply has dried up completely — and can act as a textbook add-on point in an established uptrend.

Darvas Box

Darvas Box Theory

Nicolas Darvas's mechanical method. Identify a 'box' as a horizontal range bounded by a recent new high and the subsequent pullback low. Buy the breakout above the box top; sell if it breaks below the box bottom.

Stage 2 Breakout

Weinstein Stage 2 Breakout

Stan Weinstein's foundational setup: stock breaks out of a Stage 1 base (consolidation above the 30-week MA) with the 30-week MA turning up. The breakout marks the transition into Stage 2 (advancing) — Weinstein's primary buy phase.

Wyckoff Spring

Wyckoff Spring (Phase C)

Wyckoff's most famous setup. A final shakeout below the trading range support that quickly reverses back into the range — trapping shorts and giving the Composite Operator the last cheap inventory before markup.

Wyckoff SOS

Wyckoff Sign of Strength

A wide-spread, high-volume bar that decisively breaks above the trading range high — the moment Phase D begins and the markup is underway. Wyckoff's confirmation that the Composite Operator is now lifting prices.

Ascending Triangle

Flat resistance at the top, rising lows below — a coil where buyers are willing to pay higher prices each test while sellers defend a fixed line. Resolves with a breakout above the flat top on volume.

Falling Wedge

Two converging downsloping trendlines with contracting volume — a wedge where each rally and pullback gets tighter. Despite the bearish-looking slope, the contraction signals exhaustion of supply. Resolves with an upside breakout.

Base Breakout

Generic Base Breakout

A simple horizontal consolidation that resolves with a breakout above the range high on heavy volume. The catch-all for breakouts that don't fit a more specific pattern (VCP, Cup & Handle, etc.) but show clean accumulation.

Flat Base

O'Neil's second-stage setup. After a stock has already made a meaningful advance, it consolidates in a tight, flat range — no more than 15% depth — for at least five weeks. Flat is the key word: there's no rounding or dramatic dip. This shows the stock is under heavy accumulation and sellers can't push it down.

Power Play

Power Play (High Tight Flag)

Minervini's most powerful setup, and his rarest. A stock surges 100% or more in eight weeks or less on massive volume — the kind of thrust that only happens when institutions will pay almost any price to get in — and then, instead of handing the move back, pauses in a very shallow and orderly base. The precursor move is the pattern: without a double in under two months this is not a Power Play, whatever else the chart looks like. Expect long stretches with no candidates; that is the setup behaving correctly.

Momentum Flag

Momentum Flag (continuation base)

A Power Play's shape without a Power Play's engine. A Stage 2 leader advances 20–100%, then builds a shallow, tight base while volume dries up and price works back toward the pivot. These are legitimate continuation setups and they are far more common than a true Power Play — which is exactly why they need a name of their own. Until 2026-07-29 the scanner published them as Power Plays, which claimed more than the chart could support.

High Tight Flag

A rare Minervini-style explosive leader pattern with O'Neil roots. The stock doubles or more in 4–8 weeks (the pole), then consolidates 10–25% for 3–5 weeks in a tight flag. The HTF signals explosive institutional demand. When it breaks out, it can continue with another major move.

Pennant

Pennant Continuation

A symmetrical triangle that forms after a strong price advance, with converging trendlines on both sides and contracting volume. Unlike a full symmetrical triangle, a pennant is small and brief — a 1–4 week pause in an ongoing trend. It resolves with continuation of the prior move.

MA Pullback

Moving Average Pullback

Weinstein's core add-on setup. In an established Stage 2 uptrend, the stock pulls back to the 10-week or 30-week moving average on declining volume — a normal correction within the trend. Offers a lower-risk entry close to a well-defined stop with the trend behind you.

Basing

Basing / Stage 1 Accumulation

Weinstein's Stage 1 — the long, sideways accumulation phase where a stock trades in a choppy range, often below its 30-week MA or as it flattens. This is where smart money quietly builds positions before the Stage 2 breakout. Not a buy yet — but a stock to watch closely.