Stock Scanner Playbook

Parabolic Run Scanner and Wedge Pattern Scanner: Find Acceleration and Compression Setups

Parabolic run scanner and wedge pattern scanner guide for stock traders

Some traders want to find stocks that are already moving fast. Others want to find charts that are compressing and may be close to a decisive move. That is exactly why the combination of a parabolic run scanner and a wedge pattern scanner is so useful: one helps you spot acceleration, the other helps you spot tightening structure.

In GStockly, these two jobs are now covered by LookForParabolicRun and the wedge family: LookForWedge, LookForRisingWedge, and LookForFallingWedge.

If you are a beginner, think of a parabolic run as a stock going up faster and faster, and a wedge as price squeezing into a narrower area. If you are more advanced, think in terms of acceleration, curvature, compression, touch quality, and proximity to a tradable decision point.

What Is a Parabolic Run?

A parabolic run is not just a normal uptrend. It is an uptrend that begins to accelerate. Price is rising, then rising faster, and often staying relatively tight near the highs instead of immediately collapsing.

This matters because many of the market's strongest momentum leaders do not move in a calm straight line. They speed up. A standard trend filter may find them late or mix them with slower names. A dedicated acceleration scan helps separate the truly explosive charts from the merely bullish ones.

Parabolic run scanner example showing accelerating bullish price action

What Is a Wedge Pattern?

A wedge is a chart pattern where price keeps moving inside two lines that are both sloping in the same direction, but the space between them gets smaller over time. In other words, price is still moving, but it is also compressing.

There are two classic cases:

Rising wedge: both lines slope upward, often used as an exhaustion or breakdown watchlist.
Falling wedge: both lines slope downward, often used as a bullish continuation or reversal watchlist.

The geometry alone does not guarantee direction, but it tells you that the chart is becoming more compressed and may be approaching an important decision zone.

Why These Two Scans Complement Each Other

These functions are useful together because they cover two very different market behaviors:

LookForParabolicRun finds stocks already showing strong acceleration.
LookForWedge finds stocks that are coiling into a narrower structure and may be close to release.

One is about speed. The other is about compression. Depending on your style, you may prefer one over the other, or use both to build separate momentum and breakout watchlists.

How LookForParabolicRun Thinks

A useful parabolic scanner should do more than reward a chart that simply went up. It should ask whether the move is becoming faster and whether the current structure is still actionable.

The current logic looks for things such as:

A meaningful run over the selected window
A second half that is stronger than the first half
Positive curvature, not just a straight-line climb
Price still relatively close to the highs
Contained pullbacks instead of immediate failure
Price still above short and medium trend anchors

That makes it more useful for traders who want to find live momentum leaders rather than charts that were explosive weeks ago and are now already broken.

How LookForWedge Thinks

A useful wedge scanner needs to recognize more than two random sloping lines. It should look for actual compression that is still relevant now.

The wedge logic focuses on:

Converging support and resistance lines
Multiple touches on both sides
Most price action still contained inside the structure
Visible width compression from the start of the pattern to the latest bar
Proximity to the apex so the setup remains actionable

This is especially useful for traders who want to monitor compression before expansion, whether for continuation or reversal logic.

Wedge pattern scanner example showing converging price compression toward an apex

Beginner Use Case: Fast Leaders vs Tight Coils

If you are still learning, here is a simple way to think about the difference:

Use LookForParabolicRun when you want to see which stocks are already acting like leaders.
Use LookForFallingWedge when you want to find pullbacks that may be tightening before another bullish move.
Use LookForRisingWedge when you want to review charts that may be getting overstretched and vulnerable.

Momentum Example with LookForParabolicRun

// @StrategyName: Daily Parabolic Leaders
// @StrategyDescription: Finds liquid stocks with accelerating bullish momentum.

IsNotPriceLocked(20, "d") == 1
QuoteAge("d") < 5
AvgCounterValue(20, "d") > 1500000
LookForParabolicRun(60, "d") > 62
RSI(14, "d") > 58
VolumeChangeVsAvg(20, "d") > 0

AddSignal("Daily Parabolic Leaders")

Falling Wedge Example

// @StrategyName: Falling Wedge Recovery Watchlist
// @StrategyDescription: Looks for downward compression inside a broader bullish context.

IsNotPriceLocked(20, "d") == 1
AvgCounterValue(20, "d") > 900000
IsUpTrend(40, "d")
LookForFallingWedge(90, "d") > 60
RSI(14, "d") > 45

AddSignal("Falling Wedge Recovery")

Rising Wedge Risk Watchlist Example

// @StrategyName: Rising Wedge Risk Watchlist
// @StrategyDescription: Finds compressed upward structures that may be near exhaustion.

IsNotPriceLocked(20, "d") == 1
AvgCounterValue(20, "d") > 1000000
LookForRisingWedge(75, "d") > 58
RSI(14, "d") > 55

AddSignal("Rising Wedge Risk")

Generic Wedge Example

// @StrategyName: Any Wedge Near Decision Point
// @StrategyDescription: Finds wedge compressions without forcing direction.

IsNotPriceLocked(20, "d") == 1
AvgCounterValue(20, "d") > 750000
LookForWedge(80, "d") > 59
ATRPerc(14, "d") > 1.0

AddSignal("Any Wedge")

How to Use the Extra Data

These scanners become much more useful when you review the extra values, not just the final score.

ParabolicRunAccelerationScore helps compare which charts are really speeding up.
ParabolicRunDistanceFromHighPct helps reject names that already pulled back too much.
ParabolicRunQuadraticR2 vs ParabolicRunLinearR2 helps confirm that the move is curved, not just trending.
WedgeCompressionPct shows how much the structure narrowed.
WedgeDaysToApex helps identify whether the setup is still early or already near resolution.
WedgeType separates rising wedge from falling wedge behavior during review.

Who These Functions Are Best For

These scanners are especially useful for:

Momentum traders looking for names that are accelerating, not just drifting higher
Swing traders building breakout watchlists from compressed structures
Intermediate traders learning the difference between speed and compression
Advanced traders who want extra pattern data to rank watchlist quality more intelligently

Final Thoughts

A strong stock scanner is not just about finding "bullish" charts. It is about finding the right type of bullish behavior for your style. Sometimes that means acceleration. Sometimes that means structure tightening before release.

That is why LookForParabolicRun and the wedge family are useful additions: they help you separate explosive leaders from converging setups instead of mixing both ideas into one vague momentum search.

Try the Daily Parabolic Leaders scanner on gStockly