Market research guide
Tops and bottoms screener: 11 methods, 3 timeframes
Look for concentrations of turning-point evidence, then distinguish an early warning from an observed price turn.
Tops & Bottoms is Sistine’s screen for assets with multiple top or bottom signals. Choose Bottoms or Tops, a Daily/Weekly/Monthly timeframe, a minimum signal count, a stage and a market. The score counts observed methods; it is not a probability of a reversal.
The eleven methods
| Method | Observation |
|---|---|
| RSI stretch or recovery | Momentum is extreme or has crossed back out of an extreme zone. |
| Price extension or re-entry | Price is unusually far from its recent mean or has moved back inside its band. |
| Price/RSI divergence | A confirmed price extreme and momentum disagree under defined pivot rules. |
| Reversal structure | A failed range break, reclaim, rejection or confirmed double-top/bottom neckline event. |
| MACD turn | A momentum crossover that remains on the qualifying side of its signal. |
| Rate-of-change exhaustion | An extreme recent rate of change followed by a qualifying recovery. |
| RSI failure swing | A sequence of RSI pivots and a sustained crossing of the intervening level. |
| Moving-average reclaim | Price recrosses its EMA after a sustained period on the other side. |
| Streak reversal | An opposite close after a qualifying run of consecutive lower or higher closes. |
| Volume climax reversal | A price extreme with unusually high volume followed by a reversal, when usable volume and adjustment data exist. |
| TD-style exhaustion counts | Transparent setup and countdown rules. This is an independent implementation, not the licensed DeMARK Sequential or Combo product. |
Daily, Weekly and Monthly are separate calculations
The selected timeframe changes the observations used by every method. RSI(14), for example, uses fourteen daily, weekly or monthly observations. Counts across different timeframes are not added together. Monthly evidence needs longer histories, so a young asset can have fewer available methods. “Unavailable” is different from an inactive signal.
How to interpret a cluster
Start with the number of available methods, the active signals and their families. Several momentum methods can react to the same price move, so six signals do not mean six independent confirmations. Inspect the chart and stage: an early warning can persist through a trend, while price confirmation means a defined closing-price condition has occurred and held.
Use the screen to prioritize investigation and compare the broader trend, not to assume that the lowest price or highest price has already happened. The full methodology publishes the calculations, warmups, expiry and invalidation rules, source research and historical-test limitations. The earlier four-method diagnostic does not validate the current eleven-method system or establish a standalone trading edge.
A simple first pass
- Choose the timeframe that matches your research horizon.
- Filter for multiple signals, then compare the count with how many methods have sufficient data.
- Open an asset and inspect its chart markers, stage and conflicting evidence.
- Compare Daily, Weekly and Monthly separately before adding an asset to your watchlist.
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