What is the double top pattern?
The double top is a bearish reversal pattern. Price rallies to a level, pulls back, and fails at the same level a second time. The neckline is the low between the two peaks.
How does the double top form?
Price rallies to a level, pulls back, then returns and fails at roughly the same level. The low between the two peaks is the neckline.
How do you confirm a double top?
The two peaks should be close in price but separated in time. A few bars apart is a range, not a double top. The pattern only completes on a close below the neckline.
When does the double top fail?
Most double tops never complete. Price makes the second peak, drifts, and then makes a third, higher peak. The uptrend has simply paused.
No chart pattern works every time. The examples on this page were chosen because they show the pattern clearly, and in real markets patterns fail often.
Practice on real charts
3 real examples of the double top, cut off where the pattern completed. Make your call, then see what happened.
The shaded area is a double top. Where did price go next?
