Under most circumstances, the markets will be either readable or reliable.

"We registered blow off volume around the lows (1) then got some nice upside confirmation volume during the subsequent rally (2) however, better than 10:1 up vs. down volume came back into the market last week (3); an indication that institutions were using strength to sell into."

"During the 2000 bear market the NASDAQ rallied 40%, 28%, 41%, 50% and 36%." All of them nothing more than bear market rallies with very few stock working from breakouts.

Markets trying to rally but breadth pretty crummy. Been a while since we've seen that.

 to help you visualize

Another thought-provoking chart.