Bearish Kicker Pattern: The Gap Down That Started Amazon's 2022 Slide and Intuit's 2021 Top

On September 13, 2022, the day a hotter-than-expected inflation report gave stocks their worst session since June 2020, Amazon opened below the prior day's open and printed a bearish kicker. Sold at that close with a stop above the prior day's high, the trade risked 7.6%. By November 9, 2022, the day Amazon became the first public company to lose $1 trillion in market value, the stock was down 32.1%.

On November 30, 2021, the day Fed Chair Powell said it was time to retire the word "transitory", Intuit printed one, six sessions after its record high. The risk was 6.9%. By May 18, 2022 the stock was down 45.8%, with no gap down of 5% or more along the way.

Amazon's high held for 209 sessions, Intuit's for 741. Here is how to read a bearish kicker, where the stop goes, and how to find the next one.

What the fall cost#

A bearish kicker is a sell signal for holders and an entry for short sellers.

The $10,000 and reward rows use the 120-session numbers. Prices are split-adjusted, as on the chart.

The bearish kicker in one table#

A bearish kicker is two daily candles. A long green day, then a long red day that opens below the green day's open. The second day leaves the first one behind at the open: the two bodies never meet. Something changed overnight, and sellers kept pushing all day.

These are the rules the VCP Scanner terminal uses to name a bearish kicker on a daily chart.

Most kickers come on news. Amazon's came on the morning of an inflation report, Intuit's on a day of Fed testimony and vaccine worries.

Bearish kicker and its look-alikes#

The bearish engulfing and the dark cloud cover open at or above the green day's close and fall back. The kicker never goes back: it opens under the whole green body. Amazon's was also a gap down, its whole day under the green day's low, and the terminal names the kicker first. The mirror image is the bullish kicker.

Example 1: Amazon (AMZN) on the hot-CPI day, Sep 13, 2022#

Open AMZN in the VCP Scanner terminal →

The day: the August inflation report came in hotter than expected, with core prices up 0.6% in a month. The Nasdaq fell 5.2% and the Dow 1,276 points, the worst day for stocks since June 2020. Amazon's slide had started a month earlier at its August high, where the spinning top article begins.

What followed:

• Next session (Sep 14): closed at 128.55, up 1.4%.
• First close below the kicker's low (Sep 16): 123.53, three sessions later.
• Ten sessions later (Sep 27): 114.41, −9.8%.
• Nov 9, 2022: 86.14, −32.1%, its lowest close since Mar 16, 2020, on the day Amazon became the first public company to lose $1 trillion in market value. That is 4.2 times the 9.67 risked on each share.
• Dec 28, 2022: 81.82, −35.5%, its lowest close since Mar 8, 2019.
• The high of 136.49 held for 209 sessions, until Jul 14, 2023.

One gap did about a third of the fall to Nov 9: Amazon opened 11.8% lower on Oct 28, 2022, after its third-quarter report.

With $500 at risk, the stop sized a short at 51 shares, about $6,468. At the Dec 28, 2022 close the short was up $2,295.

Example 2: Intuit (INTU) at its 2021 top, Nov 30, 2021#

Open INTU in the VCP Scanner terminal →

The day: Powell told the Senate it was a good time to retire "transitory" as a word for inflation, and Moderna's chief executive warned that vaccines might work less well against the Omicron variant. The S&P 500 fell 1.9%.

What followed:

• Next session (Dec 1): closed at 663.89, up 1.8%.
• First close below the kicker's low (Dec 3): 647.96, three sessions later.
• Ten sessions later (Dec 14): 639.48, −2.0%.
• Feb 23, 2022: 467.00, −28.4%, its lowest close since Jun 8, 2021.
• May 18, 2022: 353.31, −45.8%, its lowest close since Nov 30, 2020. That is 6.6 times the 44.97 risked on each share.
• The high of 697.27 held for 741 sessions, until Nov 11, 2024.

The whole fall came without a single gap of 5% or more: Intuit lost almost half its value one session at a time.

With $500 at risk, the stop sized a short at 11 shares, about $7,175. At the May 18, 2022 close the short was up $3,289.

Where a bearish kicker counts: key levels#

A bearish kicker on a level is a test of that level from below. In the terminal, the Only at a key level switch is on by default and keeps the kickers at one of these:

Neither example sat on one of these, so to see kickers like them, turn Only at a key level off. One that shows with the default switch: Coinbase's of Dec 28, 2021, at the pivot of its failed October breakout. It risked 7.9%, and the stock fell 41.4% within 60 sessions, with gaps doing about two-fifths of it.

Amazon was in Stage 1, a base after a decline, and the kicker ended a bounce inside it. Intuit was in Stage 2, Stan Weinstein's advancing stage: a bearish kicker in Stage 2 marks a top inside an uptrend, a place to take profits or tighten a stop as much as a place to short.

How to trade a bearish kicker#

1. Find the gap. A kicker is usually a news day: an economic report, a Fed meeting, an earnings report. Amazon's came on an inflation report, Intuit's on Fed testimony.
2. Check the bodies. A long green day, then a long red day that opens below the green day's open. Amazon's opened 3.09 below it, Intuit's 5.38.
3. Choose your entry. Some traders sell the kicker's close. Others wait for a close below its low. Amazon and Intuit both bounced first and gave that close three sessions later.
4. Put the stop above day 1's high. The terminal draws it there. Because the stop sits above the gap, it is wide: 7.6% for Amazon, 6.9% for Intuit.
5. Size from the stop. Shares = money at risk ÷ (stop − entry). With $500 at risk on Intuit: 500 ÷ (697.27 − 652.30) = 11 shares.

A wide stop means a small position. A short also carries more risk than a long: a stock can rise past the stop overnight.

Find bearish kickers on any chart in VCP Scanner#

• Open a stock in the terminal, for example AMZN or INTU.
• Open Candles in the chart toolbar and tick Bearish kicker.
• Only at a key level is on by default. Turn it off to see every bearish kicker on the chart.
• The chart jumps to the latest bearish kicker. A dot marks each one above its high, and the selected one shows its stop on the price scale.
• The inspector lists the close, stop, risk to stop, level, volume and stage, and the bar's other names under Also. Walk through the others with the ← and → keys.
• Mark the ones you care about with the drawing tools. The arrows in the charts above are the Arrow Marker (Alt+A): click where the arrow starts, then click the candle.

Candles are free, on daily, weekly and monthly charts.

Bottom line#

• A bearish kicker is a long green day followed by a long red day that opens below it: the bodies never meet, and sellers held the gap all day.
• Amazon's came on the hot-CPI day of 2022 and Intuit's six sessions after its 2021 record. They risked 7.6% and 6.9%. Amazon fell 32.1% within 60 sessions, and Intuit 45.8% within 120.
• Day 1's high is the stop. It defines your risk before you take the trade.

Data: VCPScanner daily market data through Nov 6, 2026, split-adjusted. The examples are for education, not recommendations.