Chart Patterns Cheat Sheet: Head and Shoulders, Double Tops, Triangles & Flags
Chart Pattern Library
Six common chart patterns, each sketched on a made-up chart. For each one you get what it looks like, what traders usually wait for before acting, and what it looks like when the pattern fails.
Head and shoulders
What it looks like: Three peaks, the middle one highest, over a flat or sloped neckline.
Usual confirmation: A close below the neckline after the right shoulder.
Failure example: Price closes back above the neckline or the right shoulder high, trapping late sellers.
Double top
What it looks like: Two similar highs with a dip between them.
Usual confirmation: A close below the low between the two peaks.
Failure example: Price breaks above both peaks instead, turning the pattern into a breakout.
Double bottom
What it looks like: Two similar lows with a bounce between them.
Usual confirmation: A close above the high between the two lows.
Failure example: Price breaks below both lows and keeps falling.
Ascending triangle
What it looks like: Flat resistance on top with rising lows underneath.
Usual confirmation: A close above the flat top, ideally on rising volume.
Failure example: Price breaks the rising trendline instead and drops.
Symmetrical triangle
What it looks like: Lower highs and higher lows squeezing together.
Usual confirmation: A close outside either trendline. The direction isn't known in advance.
Failure example: A breakout reverses back inside the triangle within a few bars.
Bull flag
What it looks like: A sharp rise (the pole) and then a short, gently falling channel.
Usual confirmation: A close above the top of the channel.
Failure example: The channel breaks lower and wipes out most of the pole.
- Patterns describe what price has done. Plenty of them fail, which is why each card shows a failure case.
- Volume, the wider trend and where the pattern forms all change how much weight traders give it.
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