A double bottom is a reversal: price makes a low, bounces to an intervening high, returns to roughly the same low and holds, then breaks above that intervening high. The second low failing to break the first is the evidence that selling has run out.
- 1First low
- 2Second low holds the level
No instance passed the hard criteria in the last 7 days. This one is 11 days old and is dated as such rather than re-presented as current.
Run this double bottom pattern read yourselfWhat the engine actually checks
“Looks like one” is not a rule. Detection requires every hard criterion and scores the confluences — fail a hard criterion and it is not this setup, it is a hope with a nickname.
Hard criteria — all required
- ▪Two lows within 1.5% of each other (0.5% on FX majors).
- ▪A definable intervening high of at least 3% off the lows.
- ▪A prior downtrend for the pattern to reverse.
Confluences — weighted, not required
- ▫Lower volume on the second low than the first.
- ▫The second low sweeping marginally below the first before reclaiming.
- ▫Neckline break on expanding volume.
Trading it
- 1Where you are wrongA close below the lower of the two lows. Once price closes beneath both, the level that defined the pattern has failed and what looked like a base is a continuation pause in the downtrend.
- 2EntryThe break above the intervening high is the confirmed entry. The aggressive variant — entering at the second low on the reclaim — offers a far better price and requires you to be right about a level holding before it has demonstrated that it will.
- 3ObjectiveThe conventional target projects the lows-to-neckline distance upward from the break — and it is worth noticing that this alone rarely pays. With the stop below the lows, the measured move and the risk are roughly the same distance, so the geometric target lands near 1R before costs. The trade works when there is a structural objective beyond it; when there is not, the pattern is valid and the trade is not worth taking.
Worked example — real numbers
entry on the neckline break, stop below the lows, target at the next structural high rather than at the measured move. A valid formation offering under about 1.5R is still a valid formation and still not worth taking — valid and worth it are different questions.
Size this trade against your account →The scoreboard
Resolution by grade, market and timeframe — because a single blended number would let strong contexts carry weak ones, which is how every invented “success rate” in this category is constructed.
| Grade | Market | Timeframe | Resolution | Sample |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | FX | 4H | collecting | no resolved sample yet |
| A | FX | 1D | collecting | no resolved sample yet |
| A | Equities | 4H | collecting | no resolved sample yet |
| A | Equities | 1D | collecting | no resolved sample yet |
| A | Crypto | 4H | collecting | no resolved sample yet |
| A | Crypto | 1D | collecting | no resolved sample yet |
| B | FX | 4H | collecting | no resolved sample yet |
| B | FX | 1D | collecting | no resolved sample yet |
| B | Equities | 4H | collecting | no resolved sample yet |
| B | Equities | 1D | collecting | no resolved sample yet |
| B | Crypto | 4H | collecting | no resolved sample yet |
| B | Crypto | 1D | collecting | no resolved sample yet |
| C | FX | 4H | collecting | no resolved sample yet |
| C | FX | 1D | collecting | no resolved sample yet |
| C | Equities | 4H | collecting | no resolved sample yet |
| C | Equities | 1D | collecting | no resolved sample yet |
| C | Crypto | 4H | collecting | no resolved sample yet |
| C | Crypto | 1D | collecting | no resolved sample yet |
Where this traps people
Drop your chart and the engine checks it against the same hard criteria listed above — the ones it uses on every scan. First read is free and needs no account.
Questions traders actually ask
- How do you confirm a double bottom?
- By a close above the intervening high between the two lows. Before that break the formation is a hypothesis; the second low holding is necessary but not sufficient, and traders who treat it as confirmation are early by definition.
- Do the two lows need to be exactly equal?
- No, and they rarely are. Within roughly 1.5% is the working tolerance, tighter on FX majors. A second low that dips marginally below the first and reclaims is often the stronger version, because it sweeps the stops resting there first.
- What is the difference between a double bottom and a triple bottom?
- The number of touches. A third test of the same level means the first two failed to attract enough buying to reverse — more touches is not more strength, and the engine grades repeated tests of a level lower rather than higher.
- How long does a double bottom take to form?
- On a daily chart, typically weeks to months; intraday, hours. What matters more than duration is symmetry — two lows separated by a plausible intervening rally, rather than one low and a much later unrelated one.
- Where does the stop go on a double bottom?
- Below the lower of the two lows. Placing it between them looks tighter and sits inside the exact zone the pattern expects price to probe, which is how a valid setup gets stopped out before it works.
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