Indicator 09

Stage 2 Breakout Scanner

The desk's own scanner: is this name in a true Stage 2 uptrend, and is a breakout loading?

Chart overlay · Daily · US stocks

The Stage 2 Breakout Scanner asks two questions about a name: is it in a genuine Stage 2 uptrend, using Weinstein's definition, and is it breaking out right now. Both have to be true. A breakout in Stage 1 or Stage 4 is a trap that looks identical on the chart.

What it shows

A live seven-point trend checklist (price vs the 50, 150 and 200-day averages, their order and slope, distance from the 52-week low and high).
Volatility-contraction diamonds when the range tightens inside a valid uptrend.
The current Darvas box drawn on the chart as it forms.
Volume dry-up dots during the base, and a breakout arrow only when price clears a pivot with volume behind it.

How it reads the market

Stage analysis, the way the great growth traders framed it: most big runs start from a confirmed Stage 2 uptrend. The checklist answers 'is this one?' at a glance, and the breakout signal only counts when the base was quiet and the break comes on expanding volume. Concepts: Minervini's trend template, O'Neil's volume rules, Darvas boxes.

Settings

Setting	Default	What it does
Average lengths	50 / 150 / 200	The three moving averages behind the checklist.
Contraction window	50 bars	Lookback for the tightening-range detection.
Volume average	50 bars	Baseline for dry-up (below half) and expansion (above 1.5x).

Everything is an input: colors, thresholds and time windows adjust from the indicator's settings panel, no code needed.

Built-in alerts

Breakout confirmed

Set them once from TradingView's alert dialog and get notified on your phone, no chart-watching required.

Comes with the membership

The whole indicator suite is included with the paid plan, $20/month or $200/year. Subscribe, submit your TradingView username, and the scripts land in your TradingView library.

Get full access

How to add it to your chart

Request access above with your TradingView username (one request covers the whole suite).
We grant it on TradingView, usually within 24 hours; TradingView notifies you.
On your chart, open Indicators → Invite-only scripts and add Stage 2 Breakout Scanner.

When to use it, and when not to

It earns its place when

You buy strength and want to avoid breakouts that happen inside a downtrend.
You already screen for setups and want a structural filter on top.
You hold positions for weeks or months rather than days.

Leave it off the chart when

You are bottom-fishing. Stage 2 by definition starts after the bottom, so this will always be late to a turn.
The whole market is in a downtrend. Individual Stage 2 names exist in bear markets and mostly fail anyway.
You need an entry price. This confirms the structure; the levels come from elsewhere.

Common questions

What is a Stage 2 uptrend?

Stan Weinstein's framework splits a stock's life into four stages: basing, advancing, topping, declining. Stage 2 is the advance, marked by price above a rising long-term average with volume expanding on the up moves. Most of the money in a multi-month move is made in Stage 2.

Why does the stage matter for a breakout?

Because the same breakout pattern has opposite expectancy depending on where it happens. Breaking out of a base inside Stage 2 is continuation. The identical pattern in Stage 4 is a bounce in a downtrend that fails days later. The chart looks the same; the outcome does not.

How long does a stock stay in Stage 2?

Weeks to years. That variance is the point: you do not exit because time has passed, you exit when the structure breaks.

Does it work on any timeframe?

It is built on daily bars and reads a weeks-to-months structure. On an intraday chart the stage concept has no meaning; there is not enough history in the window to define one.