Bulkowski’s Inverted Dead-Cat Bounce

ThePatternSite.com logo

Home
About
Bookstore
Contact
Glossary
Links
Search
Site Map

Click on my books below to take you to Amazon.com They pay for the referral on most items and that helps pay for the cost of this site.

Makes a great gift

The inverted dead-cat bounce is the name for this event pattern. Price makes a dramatic rise, from 5% to 20% or more, before declining at a more leisurely rate. For more information see pages 844 to 854 of the book Encyclopedia of Chart Patterns, Second Edition and the following...
Inverted dead cat bounce event pattern
Inverted dead-cat bounce

Identification Guidelines

Characteristic Discussion
Price rise Look for an event that causes price to jump at least 5% but it can be 20%, 50%, or even higher. Avoid those stocks with takeover rumors as they tend to stay high or move even higher.
Higher high Price typically moves higher the day following the event.
Decline After that, price tends to decline.

Trading Tips

The following is based on tens of thousands of samples covering both a bull and bear market. Since it uses averages, your results will vary. Trade it appropriately for the situation. I have seen a number of cases in which price continues to climb after an event. Thus, a sale after the initial price rise might cause you to miss a substantial upward move. Trade this one carefully.

Trading Tactic Explanation
Measure Measure the close-to-close price difference from the day before the event to the event day (the day price shoots upward). Then match the percentage rise with the one in the left column below
5% rise Sell the day after the initial rise. Buy back in during week 2 for a rise that lasts through week 4.
10% rise Sell the day after the initial rise. Price trends lower thereafter.
15% rise Sell the day after the initial rise. Price may bottom on day 3. Buy back in and hold until week 4 when price peaks.
20% rise Sell the day after the initial rise. Buy back on days 3 or 11 and sell early in week 2 or week 4. Price trends downward at the end of week 4.

Example

Inverted dead-cat bounce event pattern example

The above figure shows an example of an inverted dead-cat bounce event pattern. Price soars by 28%, measured close to close. The company reaffirmed earnings projections for the year and said earnings would be at the high end of the range. A broker downgraded the stock but that did not prevent price from jumping up. Price made a new high a day later and then started a slide back down. Price reached a high of 15 before dropping to a low of 9.95, a decline of over 33%.

Copyright © 2005-2007 by Thomas N. Bulkowski. All rights reserved. Disinformation is not as good as datinformation.