Filtering for price, volatility, and volume convergence at technical inflection points surfaces structural setups where breakout readiness, accumulation, or support proximity create actionable conditions.
How to use the screener to identify stocks exhibiting structural technical patterns through volatility, support, and accumulation observations.
The Question
How do I find technical structure patterns? Market structure analysis examines configurations of price action, volume, and volatility — periods of compression, support levels being tested, configurations conventionally labeled 'accumulation' or 'distribution'. The screener captures these structural readings through interpretations that combine volatility, price position, and volume observations. The conventional 'accumulation' / 'distribution' framings impute participant identity (informed vs uninformed) that the underlying formulas cannot establish from public price-and-volume data; the interpretations record the configurations themselves, not who is behind them.
What Market Structure Means
Market structure is the observable pattern of price action, volume, and volatility that describes a stock's current technical state. Markets alternate between periods of compression (tight ranges, low volatility, declining volume) and expansion (breakouts, high volatility, surging volume). They cycle through phases of accumulation (quiet building of positions), markup (trending moves), distribution (position unwinding), and decline.
The screener does not predict which direction a stock will move. Instead, it identifies the structural state — is the stock compressed and potentially ready for expansion? Is it near long-term support? Is it showing signs of accumulation? These structural observations describe conditions, not outcomes.
Key Observations
Volatility Squeeze
What it measures: A condition where price volatility has contracted significantly from recent norms. Volatility squeezes occur when a stock trades in an increasingly narrow range, often preceding a significant directional move. The squeeze itself contains no directional information — it identifies the compression, not the direction of the eventual expansion.
Data source: Measured from the contraction of Bollinger Bands, average true range, or similar volatility metrics relative to recent history.
Closes Lean Toward Bar Highs (Volume-Weighted, A/D Line)
What it measures: Where each weekly close sits within that week's high-low range, weighted by that week's volume, summed over the lookback. Higher scores indicate closes have leaned toward bar highs on heavier-volume weeks; lower scores indicate closes have leaned toward bar lows. The conventional 'accumulation/distribution' label (Granville 1963) maps the geometric reading to a market-participant intent claim ('smart money is accumulating' or 'distributing'); the formula records only close position within bars on a volume-weighted basis, not buyer or seller identity.
Data source: Cumulative measure derived from each week's close position within the high-low range, weighted by that week's volume.
Long-Term Support Position
What it measures: The proximity of the current price to long-term support levels derived from multi-year price history. When a stock trades near its long-term support, it is at a price level that has historically attracted buying interest. The observation identifies the structural position without predicting whether support will hold.
Data source: Current price analyzed relative to historical support levels over 3-year and 10-year timeframes.
Interpretations That Emerge
Volatility Compression State
Constituent observations: Narrow Price Range Relative to Average Close, Narrow Bollinger Bands, Cumulative True Range Large Relative to Net Displacement
What emerges: This interpretation identifies stocks in the most extreme states of volatility compression. When multiple independent volatility measures — Bollinger Band width, volatility contraction metrics, and the choppiness index — all indicate compressed, range-bound conditions, the stock is in a structurally significant compression state. Historically, extreme compression tends to precede significant moves, though the direction and timing are unpredictable.
Limits: Volatility compression can persist for extended periods. A stock can remain in a squeezed state for weeks or months before any significant move occurs. The interpretation identifies the state, not when or how it will resolve.
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