Signs of Strength (SOS)
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Definition
The catalogue of bar patterns that reveal professional buying — the bullish counterparts to Signs of Weakness. Each SOS is presented in a three-part protocol: Bar Description (the specific volume, spread, and close-position characteristics), Background Context (the conditions required for the signal to be valid), and Future Expectations (what should happen next and what would invalidate the signal). Core categories include Test (and variants Basic Test, Test After Shake-Out, Test After Up-Thrust, Test of Breakout, Test in a Rising Market), Stopping Volume, Selling Climax, Shake-Out, Absorption Volume, No Selling Pressure, Falling Pressure, Professional Support (Reverse Up-Thrust), Demand Overcoming Supply, No Supply, Bag Holding, Bottom Reversal, and Two-Bar Reversal. True strength always appears on down-bars.
Signs of Strength (SOS) in plain English
Signs of Strength are the tell-tale bar patterns that show the big professional players are quietly buying — they're the hopeful, bullish flip-side of Signs of Weakness. Each one is taught with a simple three-part checklist: what the bar looks like (its volume, height, and where it closed), what conditions must already be in place on the chart for it to count, and what should happen afterward to confirm or bust the signal. There's a whole catalogue of them — Tests, Stopping Volume, Selling Climax, Shake-Outs, No Supply, and more — but they share one counterintuitive fingerprint: real strength shows up on DOWN-bars. That surprises people, but it makes sense: the pros do their buying when prices are falling and everyone else is panicking, because that's when they can scoop up shares cheaply.
Also called: SOS
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