--- title: "Signals + Signals" canonical: https://thestrat.ai/docs/signals-plus-signals/ updated: 2026-09-23 author: Alex Sopa (AlexsOptions) source: TheStrat docs (https://thestrat.ai/docs/) --- Tools for AI agents: https://mcp.thestrat.ai — see https://thestrat.ai/agents/ # Signals + Signals By [Alex Sopa (AlexsOptions)](https://thestrat.ai/docs/alex-sopa/) · Updated September 23, 2026 **Definition** **Combining signals** means one timeframe’s signal working with another’s in one of two ways: the lower timeframe **creates** the higher-timeframe signal while the higher bar is still open, or the lower timeframe **triggers** a higher-timeframe signal that is already closed and on the books. Every [signal](https://thestrat.ai/docs/actionable-signals/) lives on a timeframe, and the timeframes are the same tape aggregated differently. So every daily bar is also part of a weekly bar being built. That gives two distinct plays, and the difference is whether the higher timeframe has closed yet. ## Signal creates signal The daily signal happens *before the week closes*, and it builds the weekly signal bar itself. The classic shape is a week that is 2d and trading heavy, then an [inside day](https://thestrat.ai/docs/inside-bar/) prints on Wednesday or Thursday. When that inside day breaks up, the daily break buys the week back and creates the weekly [hammer](https://thestrat.ai/docs/hammer/), a 2d that closes on its high. The weekly signal did not exist Monday; the daily action created it. And it creates a potential break on the following bar: the hammer’s high is next week’s trigger. The [shooter](https://thestrat.ai/docs/shooter/) is the same thing in mirror: an inside day breaking down creates the weekly shooter, and its low is the next bar’s trigger. [Figure: META, April 7 to May 2 2025, real data day by day. The weekly candle aggregates live from the daily bars. The new week opens below the weekly 1’s low (a 2d trading heavy), then Thursday’s inside day breaks up on Friday and creates the weekly hammer. The next bar takes the hammer’s high immediately and follows through +8.6%.] On the tape above (real data, META, April 2025), a weekly 1 is on the books. The new week opens below the 1’s low: a weekly 2d, heavy from the first print. Tuesday and Wednesday buy it back, because the break of the 1 found no sellers. Thursday goes inside: the daily signal, with the week still open. Friday breaks the [inside day](https://thestrat.ai/docs/inside-bar/) up, and that daily break **creates** the weekly [hammer](https://thestrat.ai/docs/hammer/). The next bar takes the hammer’s high on Monday morning and follows through all week, +8.6% above the trigger by Friday. ## Signal triggers signal Here the daily and the weekly are both *closed* when you identify the signals, so the setup is fully on the chart and you can find it over the weekend. Last week’s bar closed a 2d hammer: a failed break down, a potential [reversal](https://thestrat.ai/docs/2-2-reversal/) up (with a weekly 1 in front of it, the 1-2d-2u [rev-strat](https://thestrat.ai/docs/1-2-2/)). Monday prints an inside day. That inside day, identifiable Monday night, may trigger the weekly reversal up the moment its high goes. [Figure: SPY, October 22 to November 9 2018, real data day by day. The setup (a 2d hammer week) is closed and identifiable all weekend. Monday’s inside day loads the trigger; Tuesday’s break fires the weekly reversal.] On the tape above (real data, SPY, November 2018), the week closes a 2d that failed its break: a hammer, sellers pressed the low and lost it. Monday trades inside Friday’s bar. Tuesday takes Monday’s high *and* the prior week’s high in the same move: the daily break **triggers** the weekly reversal, and the week follows through. The sellers who pressed the failed break are out and have to get back in. ## Why the distinction matters **Creating** is early: you are in the move while the higher timeframe is still forming, and the weekly close will confirm what the daily already did. **Triggering** is defined: everything you need is closed and identifiable in advance, so the entry is a known level waiting to break. Either way, one entry carries evidence from more than one participation group: the daily timing with the weekly reason behind it (see [full timeframe continuity](https://thestrat.ai/docs/full-timeframe-continuity/)). **Rule:** the lower timeframe is the timing; the higher timeframe is the reason. Know which case you are in: if the higher bar is still open, you are creating it; if it closed, you are triggering it. **Related:** [Actionable Signals](https://thestrat.ai/docs/actionable-signals/) · [Hammer](https://thestrat.ai/docs/hammer/) · [Shooter](https://thestrat.ai/docs/shooter/) · [Signals + Broadening Formations](https://thestrat.ai/docs/signals-plus-broadening-formations/) · [Continuity + Signals + BFs](https://thestrat.ai/docs/continuity-signals-broadening-formations/) **Back to:** [Docs home →](https://thestrat.ai/docs/) TheStrat was developed by Rob Smith. These docs are written by Alex Sopa (AlexsOptions) and quote his teaching.