Strength/weakness Background

Strength/weakness Background turns bar-by-bar volume-spread reads into one persistent visual verdict — the first faithful implementation of the strength/weakness background. Six classic events are graded each bar against rolling volume and spread averages and the recent range: stopping volume, shakeouts and successful tests build strength; upthrusts, no-demand rallies and effort without result build weakness. Each event adds weighted evidence that decays exponentially, and the background shades only while the net tally holds beyond a threshold, darkening as evidence stacks and fading as it ages.

How to Trade the Strength/weakness Background?

• Background as bias: a strength background says recent evidence favors accumulation, weakness distribution — context for setups, not entries.
• Structure confirmation: a fresh verdict stays Awaiting Break until price closes beyond the prior swing in its direction — both stages alerted.
• Aligned signs: an event printing while the background already leans its way — timing in agreement with the bias, with its own alerts.

It reads naturally beside other Wyckoff-method tools built on the same effort-versus-result logic.

Strength/weakness Background Settings

• Average Length (default 20): the volume and spread baselines.
• High Volume Multiplier (default 1.5): the climactic-effort bar.
• Range Lookback (default 20) and Swing Length (default 10): the range events interact with, and the confirmation pivot.
• Event toggles — Stopping Volume, Shakeout, Successful Test, Upthrust, No Demand, Effort Without Result (all on).
• Evidence Window (default 30), Climactic Event Weight (default 2), Response Event Weight (default 1), Verdict Threshold (default 1): decay, weights, flip bar.
• Event Markers (default off), Dashboard (on), Full Intensity Evidence (default 4).

Frequently Asked Questions

How does this differ from the standalone Upthrust build?

The dedicated Upthrust isolates one failed-markup event as a tradable occurrence. Here an upthrust is one of six evidence streams feeding a persistent regime verdict — the background answers which side has been winning, not what just happened.

Why didn't a strong contrary bar flip the background?

By design: evidence must cross the opposite threshold before the verdict changes, so one event rarely outweighs an accumulated lean. Raising the Verdict Threshold makes flips rarer; lowering it makes it more reactive.

Does it work without volume data?

No — effort is half of every read. Symbols reporting no volume get a warning instead of a shaded background.