Power Downtrend
A power downtrend is a demanding filter for sustained weakness: moving-average structure, trend persistence and price behaviour relative to the averages all indicate an unusually strong downward regime. It isolates the names leading a decline.
- Bias
- Bearish
- Category
- Short Setups
- Scan cadence
- Every close
What has to be true for a Power Downtrend to trigger
- Bearish moving-average stacking maintained over an extended run
- Price holding below its short-term average consistently
- The long-term average falling throughout
- Persistence rather than a brief alignment
How PatternGrade grades it
Longer persistence and cleaner adherence to the downtrend structure raise the grade.
Every scanner grades its hits A+, A or B from the pattern's own measurable structure. The grading is deterministic — the same chart always produces the same grade. It describes how closely the chart matches the pattern, not how likely anything is to happen; no hit rate or probability is attached to a grade. The reasoning is set out in the methodology.
What a Power Downtrend looks like in practice
A stock has closed below its 21-day average for nine consecutive weeks. The 21-day sits below the 50-day, which sits below the 200-day, and all three are falling. Every bounce over that stretch has failed at or beneath the 21-day, none has reached the 50-day, and price has spent almost the whole period in the lower half of its own range.
How a Power Downtrend fails
The structure loosens before it breaks. The first crack is a bounce that closes above the short-term average and holds there for more than a few sessions; the second is that average flattening toward the intermediate one. Like its bullish counterpart, the structure breaks down well before any reversal pattern appears, which means a decline can loosen, fall out of the pattern, and later resume.
What this pattern is telling you
By the time a downtrend qualifies as a power downtrend, much of the decline has happened, and deeply oversold names produce the sharpest bounces.
PatternGrade is not a financial advisor and does not give buy or sell recommendations. Targets and stops shown on a pattern are reference levels derived from its geometry, not advice.
How to scan for Power Downtrend setups
PatternGrade rescans every liquid US stock (~4,500 names) for this pattern after every close and returns the hits as a graded list, with the pattern drawn on each chart, so you review setups rather than hunt for them.
Join the waitlist to be invited when sign-ups reopen and see the current Power Downtrend list, or browse all 75 patterns.
Power Downtrend FAQ
What is a power downtrend?
A strict downtrend regime filter, the bearish mirror of the power trend, designed to isolate stocks in unusually strong, persistent declines.
What makes a power downtrend different from an ordinary downtrend?
Persistence and alignment. An ordinary downtrend only needs lower highs and lower lows. A power downtrend requires the moving-average stack correctly ordered and falling, price holding below the short-term average for an extended run, and bounces that stay shallow.
Is a power downtrend a good short setup?
It identifies the stocks in the most sustained decline, which is where trend-following shorts work. It is also, by the time it qualifies, extended to the downside, so entering on the qualification alone means shorting into weakness with the invalidation far above. It is more commonly used as a filter, with entries on failed bounces.
How many stocks qualify at once?
It varies enormously with the market. In a broad decline the count rises sharply; in a strong market it can be close to zero. That count is itself a rough read on market breadth.
When does a power downtrend end?
When the persistence conditions break: price closing above the short-term average and staying there, or the average alignment breaking down. The exit is defined by the trend itself rather than by a separate signal.
Patterns a Power Downtrend is mistaken for
- Stage 4 Downtrend
- Stage 4 is the broader regime. A power downtrend adds persistence and alignment requirements most Stage 4 stocks fail.
- Power Trend
- The bullish mirror, applying the same tests to an advance.
- Death Cross
- One crossover event versus a fully aligned, falling average stack sustained over weeks.
- 52-Week Low
- A single price fact. A power downtrend requires sustained structure.
Last reviewed . Structure and grading for the Power Downtrend are reviewed against the scanner's own rules.