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 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?
