📈 Analysis: BigShort user and all-around great dude, The Hunter, has compiled and amazing analysis of Honey Badger Days to help the entire community. This analysis is available only to our users and can be found in the Guides channel on our Discord.
What Is a Honey Badger Day (HBD)?
A Honey Badger Day is a unique signal you get from BigShort that you can't get anywhere else. It means that there is a lot of shorting in the market, which means that all of those shorts need to buy to cover, which creates bullish pressure in the market. That bullish pressure tends to present in the latter half of the day.
📖 Getting Technical: A successful honey badger day means that SPY will reach either today’s open price or yesterday’s close price, whichever is lower, within the last 2 hours of trading.
How to Tell if It's a Honey Badger Day
The honey badger signal comes out daily between 6-7pm PST at which point it will be released to all Elite Tier customers in Discord.
📝 Note: The Honey Badger indicator only applies to SPY.
Why It Matters
Honey Badger Days (HBDs) have a 90% success rate and historically happen 6-10 times a year (though 2025 has seen many more HBDs than previous years). Many users more than pay for their annual BigShort subscription on every HBD. Click here for Honey Badger Success Stories. You should trade every single Honey Badger Day that you can.
Typical HBD Pattern
Morning: Weakness or dip.
Late morning/Afternoon: Recovery begins.
Late Day: Rally, with price going above either today’s open price or yesterday’s close price (whichever is lower) within the last 2 hours of trading.
The SPY price action of a Honey Badger Day often follows one of these shapes:
A Recent HBD Example
Here's a look at a recent HBD so you can see what it looks like in the real world:
An Example of Trading a HBD
In order to start familiarizing yourself with the thinking on HBDs, let’s take a look at the 5 minute SPY chart on a honey badger day in April 2024:
We see the typical U-shape here. My usual hold time when trading is anywhere between 5-15 minutes, but on honey badger days, I buy the dips and hold until the late day rally, knowing that there’s bullish pressure coming. I time my entries and exits based on the BigShort indicators. I’ll break down how I traded this one!
I saw that Net Option Flow was bearish, we had small bearish Manipulation, and we also gapped up above the previous day’s close price, so I waited to add.
Net Option Flow switched from bearish to bullish, so I scaled into my calls.
We had more bullish Net Option Flow, which gave me confidence to continue to hold.
We were back at the current day’s open price, so I sold most, but held onto a couple runners because Net Option Flow continued to be bullish.
Bullish golden sweep gave me continued confidence to hold.
We were in the last hour of trading, and Net Option Flow switched to bearish, so I sold all for a nice profit.
What about "Badgerish" Days?
There are days that are ALMOST official Honey Badger Days that we call "Badgerish Days". As stated above, these are days where the SP500 score is above 60, but below 65. They trade the same way, but are less of a sure thing. Expect buying and bullish opportunities, but be more cautious and quicker to cover if the position moves against you.
Key Takeaways
HBDs are SPY-specific. Only SPY and SPY derivatives should be used for this trade
Expect one of the three price patterns (recognizing which "shape" the day is likely to have early on can help you trade it)
Late-day rallies often occur due to short covering and provide great exit liquidity.
Use Net Option Flow, Dark Pools, Momo and SmartFlow indicators to guide exact entries and exits.
Avoid shorting on HBD - very dangerous.
Disclaimer:
The information provided in this article is for educational and informational purposes only and should not be considered as financial advice. BigShort does not provide personalized investment recommendations or advice, and you should not make any trading or investment decisions based solely on the content of this article. Trading in the stock market involves significant risk, including the potential loss of your entire investment. Past performance of our tools, indicators, or any referenced strategies does not guarantee future results. Always do your own research and consult with a qualified financial advisor before making investment decisions. Use of our platform and its features is at your own risk.