Setup tags explained: what BASE, TIGHT, TRENDING, EXTENDED and PARABOLIC mean
Every row on every screen here carries one of five setup tags: BASE, TIGHT, TRENDING, EXTENDED or PARABOLIC. The tag is arithmetic on three numbers — how tightly a stock's 10, 20 and 50-day exponential moving averages are bunched, how far price is sitting from that bundle, and how far above its 50-day simple moving average price has run. It exists to separate a stock that is strong from one that is strong and has stopped to consolidate. This page is what each tag is measured at, what the tag does not say, and how to use it after the close.
Why a strength ranking needs a second number
A screen ranked by relative strength answers one question: which names have outrun the rest of the market. It does not answer the next one. Two stocks can sit at the same percentile and be in completely different places on the chart — one has gone vertical and is a long way above every average it has, the other advanced, stopped, and has spent three weeks going sideways while its averages catch up underneath it.
That second question is what the tag is for, and it is deliberately a different measurement rather than a second opinion about strength. The measurements every screen here is built from are covered in how to screen for momentum stocks; this page is only the tag.
The consolidation score
BASE and TIGHT are tiers of one number, the consolidation score, which runs from 0 to 100 and shows on the row as Cons; the two tags below them are reached only by failing it. The score is the average of two halves, each on its own linear ramp, and both are measured in units of the stock's own 20-day average daily range — the ADR, the mean of each session's high divided by its low over the last 20 sessions, minus one, as a percent.
| Half of the score | Full marks at | Zero at |
|---|---|---|
| Width of the EMA 10/20/50 bundle | 0.4 ADR or less | 3.0 ADR or more |
| Distance from price to that bundle | 0.1 ADR or less | 2.0 ADR or more |
Both halves are needed, because either one alone describes a different chart. A stock that has just gapped can have very tight averages with price nowhere near them; a stock drifting back through a wide bundle is near the band with nothing tight about it. A real contraction is both at once. Distance is reported as zero when the close is inside the band, which is full marks on that half rather than a missing value, and the row shows it as IN.
Dividing by the stock's own range is what makes the score portable across volatility, and it is also what has to be bounded: past 12% the ADR yardstick stops growing, so extra volatility stops buying extra slack. The row's Cons cell shows both inputs in raw percent and in ADR units, using that same capped ADR.
The five tags, in the order they are tested
The tags are branches, tested top to bottom, first match winning. That order is part of the definition: a row that would satisfy two of them gets the one listed higher.
- PARABOLIC — price at least 50% above the 50-day SMA, and a 10-day high-low range of at least 3 ADRs on top of that. Far above the average and still swinging. It is the only tag that looks at the recent range at all, and the range test is skipped rather than guessed when a row carries no ADR.
- BASE — a consolidation score of 75 or better, with price no more than 40% above the 50-day SMA. Tight averages with price on them, and not already extended.
- TIGHT — a consolidation score of 55 or better, with no extension limit. A decent consolidation: looser than BASE, or more than 40 percent above the 50-day SMA.
- EXTENDED — 25% or more above the 50-day SMA, having failed both consolidation tiers.
- TRENDING — everything else: below the 50-day SMA or less than 25 percent above it, and not consolidating.
Two details decide more rows than they look like they should. Neither BASE nor TIGHT looks at the recent range: absolute quiet is something a high-range leader is never in, and asking for it would exclude exactly the population the score is meant to rank. And EXTENDED is only reached by a row that failed the TIGHT tier, so "extended" here means extended and not consolidating — a stock a long way above its 50-day average that has gone quiet is tagged for the quiet, not for the distance.
In the table the tag is abbreviated to fit its column: BASE, TIGHT, TREND, EXT and PARA. Its tooltip, the details panel beside the chart and the landing page's preview all carry the same one line for each:
| Tag | What it says |
|---|---|
| BASE | EMAs bunched with price on them (Cons 75+), no more than 40% above SMA50 |
| TIGHT | Consolidating (Cons 55+), looser than BASE or more than 40% above SMA50 |
| TREND | Not consolidating (Cons under 55), below SMA50 or less than 25% above it |
| EXT | Not consolidating (Cons under 55), 25% or more above SMA50 |
| PARA | 50% or more above SMA50, 10-day high-low range of 3+ ADRs |
What the tag does not say
The tag is three numbers about the last few weeks of one chart. It carries no entry, no stop, no size and no target, and it has no opinion about the direction of the next move — BASE is not a prediction that a base resolves upward, and EXTENDED is not a short signal. It knows nothing about earnings dates, offerings, or why a stock gapped, and it is computed on end-of-day bars only. It is not a ranking either: every tag sits on a row that has already passed its screen's rules, so it describes where that name is rather than how well it passed.
Where the tag shows up
The tag is written into the result file by the run, and every surface reads that value: the table column, the compact list a phone gets, the setup filter, the share text, the PNG card and the CSV. Only a result file written before the tag existed is scored in the browser instead, and that badge carries an asterisk and says so. In the daily email it is a chip beside the name, and the lead charts there are drawn with the EMA 10/20/50 band the tags are measured against.
The setup filter is a multi-select of the five tags: tick any combination and the list keeps the rows that carry one of them, and with nothing ticked it shows every row. The free rows carry the tag and the consolidation score too, so the distinction is visible before anything is paid for.
Common mistakes
Reading rank as position. A list sorted by relative strength puts the names that moved furthest fastest at the top, which is a statement about what has already happened rather than about what comes next. The tag says where each of those names sits now: a PARABOLIC row is at least 50% above the 50-day average with the range still running at 3 ADRs in ten days.
Reading the tag as a signal. BASE is the strictest of the consolidation tiers and it still only says that the averages are tight and price is on them. Any decision about a trade — whether to make one, at what level, at what size — is not in the tag and is not on this site.
Filtering to BASE and finding nothing. The tiers are absolute thresholds on a score rather than a quota, so a list can return none of them — which is information rather than a broken filter. Ticking TIGHT as well, and then TRENDING, widens the cut.
How to use this in QM Screener
- Open the dashboard at https://qmscreener.com/ and pick a screen in the screen picker. Momentum Continuation is the continuation list the tags were built around; VCP is the contraction screen, where the tag and the screen's own rules are asking related questions.
- Set the setup filter to BASE and TIGHT together, or add TRENDING when the list is short enough to keep those names in it.
- Sort by Cons to rank what is left by tightness rather than by strength, and read the cell's detail for the two inputs behind the number.
- Chart the survivors. Every row opens its chart in place, drawn from the same end-of-day bars the screen used, with the 50-day average already on it. The three EMA overlays are switchable and their periods are editable, so the exact 10/20/50 band the tag is scored on can be put on the chart. A chart has its own link,
?view=chart&t=TICKER; the screen is chosen in the picker, not in the URL. - Take the list with you. The survivors export as a TradingView watchlist, a CSV, a share image or share text. The TradingView file is symbols only; the tag rides along in the CSV and on the share image.
A free account — a verified email address, no card — sees the top 5 names of each screen every day and can chart them. The full list, the per-row values and the exports are $10 a month or $84 a year, each starting with a 7-day free trial. Start there, or sign in if you already have an account.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between BASE and TIGHT?
The extension limit. Both are tiers of the same consolidation score — 75 or better for BASE, 55 or better for TIGHT — but BASE also requires that price be no more than 40 percent above the 50-day simple moving average. A stock with tight averages that has already run further than that is tagged TIGHT rather than BASE. The tags are tested in order and the first match wins, so every BASE row would also have satisfied TIGHT.
Does a BASE tag mean the stock is a buy?
No. The tag is a description of the chart, computed from three numbers: how tightly the 10, 20 and 50-day exponential moving averages are bunched, how far price sits from that bundle, and how far above the 50-day simple average price has run. It contains no entry price, no stop, no target and no view on the direction of the next move. Nothing here is financial advice.
Why are the measurements in ADR rather than in percent?
Because tightness is relative to how much the stock normally moves. A two percent weekly range is dead quiet for a high-volatility leader and perfectly ordinary for a utility, so both halves of the score are divided by the stock's own 20-day average daily range. The ADR used as the yardstick is capped at 12 percent, which stops a stock that swings wildly every day from scoring as tight simply because its own range makes everything look small.
How do I filter a list by tag?
The dashboard's setup filter is a multi-select of the five tags: tick any combination and the list keeps the rows that carry one of them. BASE and TIGHT together keep the two consolidation tiers; adding TRENDING leaves out only EXTENDED and PARABOLIC. Either way it is a cut on a list that has already passed its screen's own rules.
Why does a row sometimes show a dash instead of a tag?
Because that result file predates the current definition of the score. The tag is computed by the run that writes the file, and a run cut on the old scale would be labelling rows with a word that no longer means the same thing, so the tag is withheld rather than re-derived from weaker data. The next daily refresh recomputes it.
Read next
- How to screen for momentum stocks — the five measurements every screen here is built from, and an end-of-day routine.
- VCP stock screener — the contraction screen, which asks a tightness question of its own with different numbers.
- Trend template stock screener — the 8-point trend-confirmation checklist, which says nothing about consolidation; the tag is the part that does.
- Compared with a scan you configure yourself — a screen built by hand returns rows; the tag is a classification shipped on every row here, computed the same way every day.
- The Momentum Pullback screen — the Momentum Continuation list narrowed to names back at their short averages, most of them tagged BASE or TIGHT, and the run-up test that sets it apart from a tag filter.
- All guides — everything published so far.
Educational content, not financial advice. QM Screener lists stocks that passed published filters; it does not recommend trades, size positions or know anything about your circumstances. US equities, end-of-day, refreshed once per trading day after the close.