"Which one would you prefer to be in?"
I don't really care Slick, uptrend / downtrend is all the same to me.
I've always read wicks as rejection of price, it was only seeing you using them in IMU's LT downtrend that I took a greater interest and never looked back to be honest.
Using your examples of 1, 2, and 3 they were perfect selling short opportunities with #3 already a bag and the position still in play.
Excuse the proposed consolidation chart as I haven't had time to change it back, but we can see how much easier it is to follow the market flow, well for me anyway.
I have high hopes for IMU's technical prospects post consolidation.
My opinion only so DYOR
Chart is example only not for trading purposes.
(20min delay)