Price trading below SMA 20, 50, and 200 with moving averages in perfect bearish alignment (20 < 50 < 200), confirming a strong established downtrend.
The three conditions form a nested hierarchy: close < SMA 20 < SMA 50 < SMA 200. Each moving average acts as overhead resistance at an increasingly long timeframe. on the 5-Min chart, SMA 20 is roughly one trading month, SMA 50 is two and a half months, and SMA 200 is nearly one calendar year. When SMA 50 is below SMA 200 (the Death Cross condition), it means the medium-term trend has been bearish long enough to drag the 50-day average below the annual average. The close being below SMA 20 confirms that even the most recent trend is downward. The combination of all three in descending order means the stock is trending down across daily, weekly, and monthly perspectives simultaneously.
Full bearish MA alignment is used as a trend-confirmation backdrop, not a standalone short entry. Entries within this condition are timed using shorter-term signals: MACD bear cross, EMA 9/20 cross down, or a failed rally to SMA 20 that reverses. The most dangerous moment to use this screen is after a prolonged decline has already occurred — when most stocks are in full bearish alignment, the easy money on the short side is gone and mean reversion setups become more common. The highest-quality signals appear early in a new bearish alignment, when SMA 50 has just crossed below SMA 200 (a fresh Death Cross) and price has confirmed by closing below SMA 20. Late-cycle bearish alignment (6+ months into the downtrend) has lower continuation probability. See Above All MAs Bull for the bullish mirror, Strong Intraday Downtrend for a momentum-based variant, and Death Cross for the MA crossover event that often initiates full bearish alignment.
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This screener finds stocks where the close is below SMA 20, SMA 20 is below SMA 50, and SMA 50 is below SMA 200 — the perfect bearish moving-average alignment. All three conditions must hold simultaneously on the same bar: the stock is in a full multi-timeframe downtrend. Currently 28 stocks match on the 5-Min timeframe. Short sellers and trend-following traders use it to identify stocks where all major moving-average resistance is above price — every rally faces headwinds from overhead averages. Who uses this: swing traders looking for short candidates with clean bearish structure, and risk managers screening for deteriorating stocks to underweight. Failure mode: near market bottoms, a large number of stocks fall into full bearish alignment simultaneously — this is when mean reversion risk is highest, not continuation. Related screens: Above All MAs Bull and Strong Intraday Downtrend.