Armed with a handful of favorite chart patterns, active traders often scan for entries without carefully analyzing market “internal” signals such as pre-market futures activity, relative sector strength, TRIN readings, and multi-day high/low patterns in the S&P 500 (SPX) and Nasdaq Composite (COMPX) indices. Attempting to enter trades based on isolated chart-breakout patterns — even with the help of confirming technical signals like moving averages, high volume, Fibonacci retracements, and other popular indicators — often leads to false breakouts. The presence of specific market internal signals should be a precondition to entering a position.