Setting your stop loss at a level you don’t expect the price to reach is recommended. The left shoulder is the first part of the structure, and it is formed by an upward price movement, followed by a minor price correction. The neckline is the level of support or resistance that traders use to determine strategic areas to place orders.

• You can see that we started in an aggressive uptrend and finished the pattern in a downtrend, with the bears ultimately erasing more than half of the earlier gains.
• It comes in different variations, and if you are not careful to spot it, you may miss out on many trading opportunities.
• On the technical analysis chart, the head and shoulders pattern forms following an uptrend and asset price consolidation.
• This will help you validate the target area and give you a greater degree of confidence during the trade.

By doing this, you mitigate the risk of having the market snap back on your position and stop you out for a loss. The problem with this approach is that you leave yourself exposed to the possibility of a false break. Notice in the illustration above that the market has closed below the neckline. The lower high would be a big red flag if you were a GBPJPY bull during this time.

Stick to the daily and weekly time frames

The inverse head and shoulders pattern is the opposite of the head and shoulders pattern. It has three valleys, with the middle (the head) being the lowest and the left and right valleys at a higher price. The reverse head and shoulders pattern typically shows that there is about to be a bullish reversal. The head and shoulders pattern will not always form a perfect head and shoulders structure. It comes in different variations, and if you are not careful to spot it, you may miss out on many trading opportunities. However, it becomes easier to notice as you use the pattern more often.

The price action pushes higher, creating three consecutive peaks with the right shoulder slightly lower than the left shoulder. Still, there are two clear peaks on each side of the center peak, with a slightly ascending trend line connecting two shoulders. The head and shoulders chart depicts a bullish-to-bearish trend reversal and signals that an upward trend is nearing its end. On the technical analysis chart, the head and shoulders pattern forms following an uptrend and asset price consolidation. However, head and shoulders can appear in a downtrend; in this case, it will be a trend continuation pattern, meaning the price will be falling deeper. Following the first top, left shoulder, the price goes down to the support level and bounces off.

What Does the Head and Shoulders Pattern Tell You?

The sellers have run out of gas as they were unable to continue the series of the lower lows. The third low (the right shoulder) is at a higher level than the previous peak. The key difference between the traditional version and the inverse formation is that they occur at the opposite sides of the chart. The key factor to spotting a head and shoulders pattern in the chart is to define the neckline correctly. You can see in the chart below that the head and shoulders pattern stock is preceded by a falling wedge.

After the creation of a first peak (the left shoulder), the price action rebounds modestly before continuing lower to create a lower low (the head). The price then again rebounds to a level similar to where the first rebound was finished, creating a base for the neckline to be drawn. When trading the head and shoulders pattern or any other trading strategy, you should always remember that there is no strategy that always guarantees success.

What Causes a Head and Shoulders to Form?

As such, head and shoulders signals a top (the second peak) of the current uptrend. A break of the neckline activates the pattern and makes the entire setup tradeable. On the other hand, the inverse head and shoulders is a bullish reversal pattern that occurs at the end of a downtrend.

• The first way to enter a head and shoulders break is to sell as soon as the candle closes below support.
• The positions are opened according to the same logic as in a bearish modification.
• We now move to our second example by explaining how to trade the inverse head and shoulders.
• Now for the really fun part – how to trade and of course profit from a head and shoulders reversal.
• If you enter at the wrong point, such as the final wave or during the rally, you could end up with huge losses.

A bearish head and shouders has three peaks, with the middle one reaching higher than the other two. Traders believe that three sets of peaks and troughs, with a larger peak in the middle, means a stock’s price will begin falling. The neckline represents the point at which bearish traders start selling. The head and shoulders pattern forms when a stock’s price rises to a peak and then declines back to the base of the prior up-move. Then, the price rises above the previous peak to form the “head” and then declines back to the original base. Finally, the stock price peaks again at about the level of the first peak of the formation before falling back down.