Power Trend
A power trend is a demanding trend filter: not merely an uptrend, but one where the moving-average structure, the persistence of the trend, and price's behaviour relative to its averages all indicate an unusually strong regime. It identifies the small subset of names doing the heavy lifting in an advance.
- Bias
- Bullish
- Category
- Trend & Stage
- Scan cadence
- Every close
What has to be true for a Power Trend to trigger
- Correct moving-average stacking maintained over an extended run
- Price holding above its short-term average consistently
- The long-term average rising throughout
- Trend persistence rather than a brief alignment
How PatternGrade grades it
Longer persistence and cleaner adherence to the trend 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 Trend looks like in practice
A stock has held above its 21-day average for eleven consecutive weeks. The 21-day sits above the 50-day, which sits above the 200-day, and all three are rising. Pullbacks over that stretch have been shallow and brief, none closing below the 50-day, and price has spent almost the entire period in the upper half of its own range. Price is roughly 40% above the 200-day average.
How a Power Trend fails
The structure loosens before it breaks. The first crack is usually a pullback that closes below the short-term average and stays there for more than a few sessions; the second is the short-term average rolling over toward the intermediate one. A power trend rarely ends with a single dramatic session. It decays, and the structure breaks down well before any actual reversal pattern appears. That is the intended behaviour, and it also means a trend can loosen, fall out of the pattern, and later resume.
What this pattern is telling you
Power trends identify what has already worked. By the time the filter triggers, a large part of the move is behind the stock.
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 Trend 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 Trend list, or browse all 75 patterns.
Power Trend FAQ
What is a power trend?
A strict uptrend regime filter, stricter than a standard Stage 2 test, designed to isolate stocks in unusually strong, persistent advances.
What makes a power trend different from an ordinary uptrend?
Persistence and alignment. An ordinary uptrend only needs higher highs and higher lows. A power trend requires the moving-average stack to be correctly ordered and rising, price to hold above the short-term average for an extended run, and pullbacks to stay shallow. Most uptrends fail at least one of those.
How many stocks are in a power trend at once?
Far fewer than are in an uptrend. The count varies enormously with the market environment, and in a corrective tape it can fall close to zero. That variability is informative in itself: the number of stocks passing a strict trend filter is a rough read on the market's health.
Is a power trend a good entry signal?
It is a filter rather than an entry. By the time a stock qualifies it has usually already advanced considerably, so buying the qualification alone means buying extension. It is more commonly used to define a watchlist, with entries taken on pullbacks within that group.
When does a power trend end?
When the persistence conditions break: price closing below the short-term average and staying there, or the average alignment breaking down. The stock simply stops appearing in the power trend list, so the exit is defined by the trend itself rather than by a separate signal.
Patterns a Power Trend is mistaken for
- Stage 2 Uptrend
- Stage 2 is the broader regime. A power trend adds persistence and alignment requirements that most Stage 2 stocks fail. This is the stricter tier of the same idea.
- 52-Week High
- A 52-week high is a single price fact that any stock can print. A power trend requires sustained structure over many weeks.
- Golden Cross
- A golden cross is one crossover event. A power trend requires the full moving-average stack to already be aligned and rising, which is a later and more demanding condition.
- Power Downtrend
- The bearish mirror, applying the same persistence and alignment tests to a decline.
Last reviewed . Structure and grading for the Power Trend are reviewed against the scanner's own rules.