to make the flag tradeable concretely, look for a strong impulsive leg, then a shallow, orderly pullback that doesnt retrace too much of that leg, ideally on declining momentum, then enter on resumption in the trend direction with a stop beyond the pullback. the key qualifiers are strong leg and shallow pullback, a deep messy pullback isnt a flag, its a possible reversal wearing a flags clothes. keep the criteria strict and the flag stays one of the more reliable continuation reads.
