VCP Screener

The Volatility Contraction Pattern is Mark Minervini's signature setup. A stock in a confirmed uptrend forms a series of price contractions, each tighter than the last, as selling pressure dries up. The breakout from the final contraction is the entry point. Shibui lets you describe these criteria in plain English and check them across the entire US market at once.

What the screener checks

The Minervini trend template

Mark Minervini's trend template is a checklist of conditions that define a Stage 2 uptrend. These are the preconditions for a VCP setup. A stock that fails the trend template is not a candidate regardless of how tight its base looks.

Shibui has the data columns for each of these checks: SMA values at any period, daily OHLCV prices, ATR, and volume moving averages. Claude constructs the screen from the underlying data when you describe the criteria. There is no built-in "VCP score" or pattern recognition model. You define the thresholds, Claude checks them. The VCP screening guide walks through each step in detail.

Example screens

This is the basic trend template screen with an ATR tightness filter. Claude pulls the SMA values, computes the 52-week high proximity, and checks ATR relative to price across the full market. The result is a ranked list of stocks in confirmed uptrends with tightening volatility.

This combines the technical setup with a fundamental quality filter. Most VCP screeners cannot do this in one pass. You would normally run a technical screen on one tool, export the tickers, and check fundamentals on another. Here it is one request.

This targets the tightest setups: stocks near highs with very compressed recent ranges and potentially declining volume. The 5% range over 10 days is a strict filter that narrows the universe to stocks in the final stages of contraction.

How it compares to other VCP tools

MarketSmith (Investor's Business Daily) is the established tool for Minervini-style screening. It has built-in pattern recognition and is the closest thing to an automated VCP screener. TradingView can do it with custom Pine Script. Finviz handles basic technical filters but cannot check for pattern-level criteria like contracting ranges.

If you want automated daily alerts when a VCP forms, MarketSmith or a TradingView Pine Script is the better tool. If you want to run the screen yourself, describe the criteria your way, and add fundamental filters in the same pass, Shibui handles that for free. See also the Darvas box screener for a related consolidation-breakout pattern, or the AI stock screener overview for how Shibui handles other screening approaches.

Frequently asked questions

What is a VCP screener?

A VCP screener identifies stocks exhibiting Mark Minervini's Volatility Contraction Pattern: a series of price contractions in an uptrending stock where each successive base is tighter than the last, with declining volume. Shibui checks the underlying criteria (moving average alignment, 52-week high proximity, range contraction, volume trends) across nearly 10,000 US stocks in plain English.

Is there a free VCP screener?

Shibui Finance is a free VCP screener. You connect it to Claude (the free plan works) and describe the Minervini criteria in plain English. There is no subscription and no API key. The trade-off: there is no built-in VCP detection algorithm. You define the thresholds yourself, and Claude checks them across the market.

What is the Minervini trend template?

Mark Minervini's trend template is a set of criteria identifying stocks in a Stage 2 uptrend: price above the 150-day and 200-day SMA, the 200-day SMA trending up, price within 25% of the 52-week high and at least 30% above the 52-week low. These are the preconditions for a VCP setup. The pattern itself forms when price makes a series of tighter contractions within this uptrend. The VCP screening guide walks through the full methodology.

Can I screen for VCP on TradingView or Finviz?

TradingView does not have a built-in VCP screener. You can build one using Pine Script, but it requires programming. Finviz can filter for basic criteria like price above the 200-day SMA, but cannot check for contracting ranges or volume dry-up. Shibui lets you describe all the criteria in plain English and checks them across the full market in one pass.

What is the difference between VCP and Darvas box?

Both are consolidation breakout patterns, but they differ in structure. A VCP forms a series of progressively tighter price contractions within an uptrend. A Darvas box is simpler: a stock makes a new high, consolidates in a defined price range (the "box"), and the breakout above the box top is the buy signal. See the Darvas box screener for that pattern.

Does VCP screening work with end-of-day data?

Yes. VCP screening is a daily exercise, not intraday. The pattern forms over days or weeks. Shibui's data is end-of-day, updated after market close, so it reflects yesterday's conditions. You cannot screen for intraday breakouts or set real-time alerts, but for identifying the setup itself, end-of-day data is standard practice.