Chart pattern · Continuation · Bearish
What is it, in one line
A sharp decline followed by a small converging consolidation.
Bearish · Continuation · verdict: Traditional claim, not yet measured here
A sharp decline followed by a small converging consolidation.
Method
Conventional target: Read as a bearish continuation.
Invalidated by: As the bullish pennant, inverted.
A falling pole, then a symmetrical narrowing small against it.
The traditional claim
Read as a bearish continuation.
How this detection is wrong
As the bullish pennant, inverted.
Published so the count can be reproduced. Every figure below is a parameter of the rule, not a preference: change one and the occurrence count changes with it.
| Parameter | Meaning | Default |
|---|---|---|
| pivotLeft | bars to the left of a swing | 3 |
| pivotRight | bars to the right before a swing is confirmed | 3 |
| lookback | bars searched for the swings | 120 |
| atrPeriod | bars of ATR used to size everything below | 14 |
| flatTol | how level two points must be | 0.02 |
| minSepAtr | separation required between swings, in ATR | 1 |
| poleBars | bars the pole may take to form | 20 |
| minPoleSlope | pole slope required | 2 |
| maxFlagAtr | flag drift permitted, in ATR | 6 |
These share enough geometry that a detector can return more than one of them on the same bar. The engine reports every match rather than picking a winner.
What is a Bearish Pennant chart pattern?
A falling pole, then a symmetrical narrowing small against it. The detector also requires a prior downtrend, so the same shape in the wrong context is not counted.
Is the Bearish Pennant bullish or bearish?
It is read as bearish. Read as a bearish continuation.
When is a Bearish Pennant not a Bearish Pennant?
As the bullish pennant, inverted.
How is a Bearish Pennant detected?
As an executable rule over open, high, low and close, with 9 named parameters — including bars to the left of a swing 3, bars to the right before a swing is confirmed 3, bars searched for the swings 120 — all published on this page so the count can be reproduced. Strict and loose variants are defined as well, so the sensitivity of the count to those thresholds is visible rather than assumed.
Measurement pending re-run
No hit rate is published here yet. The run that would supply one was computed on engine ca6d9e36c81c; the engine is now cfb08765de7c. Its candlestick rows included the still-forming bar, and it predates the chart formations entirely, so those figures have been withdrawn rather than published with a caveat. The definition above is unaffected: it is what the detector tests, and no re-run changes it.
Same shape, opposite reading
The shapes are close, and the prior trend is what decides which one fired: this rule requires a preceding downtrend, its mirror a preceding uptrend.
Bullish Pennant: A sharp advance followed by a small converging consolidation.