Bearish · Continuation

Bear Flag Pattern

A bear flag is a bearish continuation pattern made of a sharp decline (the pole) followed by a small upward-drifting consolidation (the flag), which usually breaks down to continue the move lower.

By the ExecutionIQ team · Updated June 2026

What the Bear Flag pattern means

The steep pole shows strong selling, and the gentle bounce shows short covering and dip buying rather than a true reversal. Because supply is still in control, price tends to resume the decline when it breaks below the flag.

How the Bear Flag is traded

→Enter short on a close below the lower flag boundary.
→The target is roughly the height of the pole subtracted from the breakdown point.
→Stop goes above the high of the flag.
→The cleanest flags drift up or sideways on shrinking volume.