You know how it goes. The stock is rising nicely and then crash, it falls sharply and develops a price waterfall as it descends to a level never seen before. And then it appears to languish at this level with no hope of recovery. But slowly it does and soon breaks higher developing a bullish trend. The consolidation phase is the accumulation phase where the market makers are doing just that and preparing for the next major campaign for the stock, and hence the reason these price patterns can be so profitable as you are buying a stock at a low price along with the market makers.