This alert appears when a stock price is changing significantly less than normal.  The volatility of the stock sets the expected price range for a stock price.  Statistical analysis determines if a consolidation is strong enough to report.  If the software detects consolidations on multiple time frames, it reports the most statically significant time frame.  On average the software reevaluates each consolidation every 15 minutes, but the exact time depends on how quickly the stock is trading.  The analysis is based on the majority of trades, weighted by volume; outlying prints may be ignored.

This alert works best for stocks with medium to high volume.  For low volume stocks, a few large prints can contribute more volume than all the rest of the prints combined.

More options related to this alert are listed below.

If you are looking for consolidations on a larger time frame, see the consolidation filters, below.  These use a more traditional algorithm for consolidations, and they look at a daily chart.