What is the bear flag pattern?
The bear flag is a bearish continuation pattern. A sharp decline followed by a weak, drifting bounce inside a narrow channel.
How to spot a bear flag
- 1Find a sharp, fast drop: the flagpole.
- 2Then a small bounce that drifts slightly upward in a narrow channel.
- 3Watch for a close below the bottom of that channel.
How does the bear flag form?
A sharp decline followed by a weak, drifting bounce inside a narrow channel that slopes gently upward.
How do you confirm a bear flag?
A bounce that cannot reclaim much of the drop is a rest, not a recovery. Measure the retracement against the pole.
When does the bear flag fail?
Bear flags fail where the bounce accelerates. What looked like a pause turns out to be the start of a reversal.
No chart pattern works every time. The examples on this page were chosen because they show the pattern clearly, and in real markets patterns fail often.
Practice on real charts
3 real examples of the bear flag, cut off where the pattern completed. Make your call, then see what happened.
The shaded area is a bear flag. Where did price go next?
Bear Flag: common questions
Is the bear flag bullish or bearish?
The bear flag is bearish. A bounce that cannot reclaim much of the drop is a rest, not a recovery.
How do you spot a bear flag?
Find a sharp, fast drop: the flagpole. Then a small bounce that drifts slightly upward in a narrow channel. Watch for a close below the bottom of that channel.
What is the difference between the bear flag and the bull flag?
The bear flag: A sharp decline followed by a weak, drifting bounce inside a narrow channel. The bull flag: A sharp advance (the pole) followed by a shallow drift against it. Volume dries up through the drift.
How reliable is the bear flag?
No chart pattern works every time. Bear flags fail where the bounce accelerates. What looked like a pause turns out to be the start of a reversal. That is why it helps to wait for confirmation and to practice on many real examples before relying on it.
How can I practice spotting the bear flag?
Use the real charts on this page: each one stops where the bear flag completed, so you can make a call and then see what happened. The free Chartle app mixes the bear flag in with 48 other patterns in short daily sessions.
Keep learning
- Chart pattern gameGuess where price goes next on real charts, all 49 patterns mixed.
- All 49 chart patternsEvery bullish and bearish pattern, with a printable cheat sheet.
- How to read candlestick chartsBodies, wicks and colors explained from the start.
- Cheat sheet PDFAll patterns on two printable pages.
