Breakaway

Five-bar reversal that fades an exhausted run. A trend gaps away on the second bar, drifts two more bars in the same direction, then the fifth bar snaps the other way and closes back inside the body gap left between the first and second bars — the move has broken away from the crowd and is turning.

Quick reference

Field	Value
Family	Candlestick Patterns
Input type	Candle
Output type	f64 — +1.0 bullish, -1.0 bearish, 0.0 otherwise
Output range	{-1.0, 0.0, +1.0}
Default parameters	none — Breakaway::new()
Warmup period	5 (first four bars always 0.0)
Interpretation	Reversal that fades an over-extended, gapped run

Formula

bullish (+1.0) — appears in a decline:
  bar1 black
  bar2 black & body gaps DOWN below bar1's body   (bar2.open < bar1.close)
  bar3 extends lower (high & low below bar2)
  bar4 black & extends lower (high & low below bar3)
  bar5 green & closes inside the bar1/bar2 body gap  (bar2.open < close < bar1.close)

bearish (-1.0) — the mirror in an advance.

The middle bar (bar3) may be either colour — only its high/low must extend the run. Recognition uses TA-Lib's CDLBREAKAWAY body-gap and high/low ordering rules directly (no rolling body-length average), matching the geometric house style. See crates/wickra-core/src/indicators/breakaway.rs.

Parameters

None. Constructed with Breakaway::new().

Signed ±1 encoding

Emits the uniform candlestick sign convention — +1.0 bullish, −1.0 bearish, 0.0 no pattern — a single feature-matrix dimension.

Inputs / Outputs

use wickra::{Indicator, Breakaway, Candle};
// Breakaway: Input = Candle, Output = f64
const _: fn(&mut Breakaway, Candle) -> Option<f64> = <Breakaway as Indicator>::update;

• Always emits a value. Never None; warmup and no-match bars return 0.0.
• Node. update(open, high, low, close) → number; batch(open, high, low, close) → Array<number>.
• Python. update(candle) → float; batch(open, high, low, close) → 1-D numpy.ndarray (0.0 on warmup / no-match).

Warmup

warmup_period() == 5. The first four bars return 0.0 (first_four_bars_return_zero, accessors_and_metadata).

Edge cases

• Body gap required. Without the bar1→bar2 body gap the result is 0.0 (no_body_gap_yields_zero).
• Fifth bar must close inside the gap. A fifth close outside the bar1/bar2 body gap yields 0.0 (bullish_close_outside_gap_yields_zero).
• Both directions. Pinned by bullish_breakaway_is_plus_one and bearish_breakaway_is_minus_one.
• Reset. reset() clears the four-bar cache (reset_clears_state).

Examples

Rust

use wickra::{Candle, Indicator, Breakaway};

fn main() -> Result<(), Box<dyn std::error::Error>> {
    let mut t = Breakaway::new();
    println!("{:?}", t.update(Candle::new(20.0, 20.2, 14.8, 15.0, 1.0, 0)?)); // black
    println!("{:?}", t.update(Candle::new(14.0, 14.1, 11.9, 12.0, 1.0, 1)?)); // black, gaps down
    println!("{:?}", t.update(Candle::new(12.5, 13.0, 10.5, 11.0, 1.0, 2)?)); // extends lower
    println!("{:?}", t.update(Candle::new(11.0, 11.5, 9.0, 9.5, 1.0, 3)?));   // black, lower
    println!("{:?}", t.update(Candle::new(9.5, 14.7, 9.4, 14.5, 1.0, 4)?));   // green, into the gap
    Ok(())
}

Output:

Some(0.0)
Some(0.0)
Some(0.0)
Some(0.0)
Some(1.0)

The fifth candle closes at 14.5, inside the bar1/bar2 body gap (12, 15), reversing a four-bar slide — a bullish breakaway. This matches bullish_breakaway_is_plus_one.

Python

import numpy as np
import wickra as ta

o = np.array([20.0, 14.0, 12.5, 11.0, 9.5])
h = np.array([20.2, 14.1, 13.0, 11.5, 14.7])
l = np.array([14.8, 11.9, 10.5, 9.0,  9.4])
c = np.array([15.0, 12.0, 11.0, 9.5,  14.5])

print(ta.Breakaway().batch(o, h, l, c))  # [0. 0. 0. 0. 1.]

Node

const ta = require('wickra');
const t = new ta.Breakaway();
t.update(20, 20.2, 14.8, 15);
t.update(14, 14.1, 11.9, 12);
t.update(12.5, 13, 10.5, 11);
t.update(11, 11.5, 9, 9.5);
console.log(t.update(9.5, 14.7, 9.4, 14.5)); // 1

Streaming

use wickra::{Candle, Indicator, Breakaway};

let mut t = Breakaway::new();
let candle_stream: Vec<wickra::Candle> = Vec::new(); // your live OHLCV candle feed
for bar in candle_stream {
    match t.update(bar) {
        Some(1.0)  => { /* bullish breakaway — fade the slide */ }
        Some(-1.0) => { /* bearish breakaway — fade the run-up */ }
        _ => {}
    }
}

Interpretation

1. Over-extension fade. The gap-and-drift run sets up an exhausted move; the snap-back fifth bar fades it back into the original gap.
2. Reversal after a sprint. Best read when the four-bar run is clearly over-extended into support (bullish) or resistance (bearish).
3. Confirm. A single reversal bar after a sharp run can be a dead-cat bounce; wait for follow-through.

Common pitfalls

• Middle-bar colour. Bar 3's colour does not matter — only its extension of the run.
• Close must re-enter the gap. A big reversal bar that overshoots the gap is not a textbook breakaway.

References

• Steve Nison, Japanese Candlestick Charting Techniques (1991).

See also

• ThreeLineStrike — another multi-bar run + snap.
• LadderBottom — five-bar bottoming reversal.
• Indicators-Overview — the full taxonomy.