Reading a Base X-ray: Every Base a Stock Ever Built, Measured

A single chart pattern is an anecdote. Two years of a stock's bases — each measured the same way, with its outcome attached — is evidence. That's what the Base X-ray is for.

What counts as a base

DataQuant defines a base mechanically: a consolidation of at least two weeks, no more than 35% deep, sitting beneath a swing-high pivot — the ceiling price must clear to resolve the pattern. Wicks that poke above the pivot don't end a base (they get counted, as you'll see); only a close above the pivot resolves it as a breakout. And once a trade's stop is breached, that episode is over — any later signal starts a fresh base with a fresh entry, so old failures never haunt new setups.

The lifecycle

Every base on the X-ray is in one of two states: forming (still building under its pivot — at most the newest base can be forming) or broke out, with the outcome attached: the breakout date, the volume ratio on the breakout day, and how far the stock ran afterward.

The card metrics, one sentence each

Why measure every base, not just the current one

A single setup, however pretty, is an anecdote. Two years of a stock's bases — detected by one rule, measured with one yardstick, each with its outcome attached — is evidence about how this particular stock behaves. Some names habitually build clean, tight bases and follow through; others poke, fail, and churn. The X-ray also reveals the classic base-on-base structure: a stock that breaks out, runs, then calmly builds its next base higher is showing you institutional accumulation in successive installments. And because a breached stop formally ends each episode, the analysis stays honest — a base that failed is recorded as a failure, never quietly absorbed into the next attempt's history.

Two real X-rays

SEIC is a study in how bases compound. Its X-ray shows a marathon 49.2-week base, 20% deep, under a $93.82 pivot — which broke out and ran +18%. The stock then built a 26.2-week base and ran +27.8% from it. Later, higher up, came the payoff of all that structure: a tight 3.2-week base just 4.5% deep under $68.14 (post-split prices) that broke out and ran +62.5%. Long bases build the launch pad; short, tight, late-stage bases deliver the sharpest moves.

CRON shows what a decisive release looks like: a 7.6-week base, 14.4% deep, that broke out on 14× average volume and ran +22.7%. When a quiet base ends that loudly, the volume is the confirmation.

Reading it like a trader

Look for the sequence, not a single card: a leader (high RS) whose successive bases get tighter (coil below 1), quieter (dry-up below 1), and cleaner (few failed pokes), forming at or near blue-sky territory. That stack of evidence is what the VCP looks like when you can see two years of it at once.