Read William O'Neil How to Make Money in Stocks, read Nicolas Darvas How I Made $2,000,000 in the Stock Market, read Gerald Loeb The Battle for Investment Survival, read Jesse Livermore How I Trade in Stocks, read Richard Wyckoff Stock Market Technique 1 & 2 and Studies in Tape Reading.
Read almost any of the classic texts that use a more or less technical approach to timing one's buys and sells and you'll learn about consolidations (bases) and the what's, the why's, and wherefore's of such price behavior.
Hint: It isn't about the levels. It is all about what the institutions are doing.