Trading
Three attempts at the same high, all rejected, and the third one usually settles it.
What you are looking at
Price reaches a level, pulls back, then returns twice more and fails at roughly the same price each time. The lows between the peaks form the support line that matters.
How traders act on it
The trigger is a close below the support connecting those pullback lows. The rough target is the height of the pattern projected down from the break.
When it fails
A fourth push that clears the level instead means the sellers there have been absorbed, and that break is often violent because so many stops sit above it.
Failure is normal and it is not a problem, provided you decided your invalidation level before entering and sized the position so that being wrong is survivable. See risk management.
Context that changes the odds
| Factor | Improves the setup | Weakens it |
|---|---|---|
| Higher timeframe trend | Pattern agrees with the daily or weekly direction | Pattern fights the larger trend |
| Volume | Expands on the breakout | Breakout happens on thin volume |
| Duration | Formed over many candles | Formed over three or four candles, which is mostly noise |
| Level confluence | Trigger sits at a well tested level | Trigger sits in empty space with no history |
| Market conditions | Trending, orderly market | Choppy range, where nearly every pattern fails |
Other patterns
Common questions
Is a triple top stronger than a double top?
What is the trigger?
Where to go next
Practice spotting these
We go through live charts together and separate the real setups from the shapes your brain wants to see. That second skill is the harder one.