HEAD-AND-SHOULDERS PATTERN — Although occasionally an Inverted Head-and-Shoulders Pattern (called a Consolidation Head-and-Shoulders) will form, which is a Continuation Pattern, in its normal form, this pattern is one of the more common and more reliable of the Major Reversal Patterns. It consists of the following four elements (a Head-and-Shoulders Top will be described for illustration): (1) a rally which ends a more or less extensive advance on heavy volume, and which is then followed by a Minor Reaction on less volume; this is the left shoulder; (2) another high-volume advance which exceeds the high of the left shoulder, followed by another low-volume reaction which takes prices down to near the bottom of the preceding reaction, and below the top of the left shoulder high; this is the head; (3) a third rally, but on decidedly less volume than accompanied either of the first two advances, and which fails to exceed the high established on the head; this is the right shoulder; and (4) a decline through a line drawn across the proceeding two reaction lows (the neckline), and a close below that line equivalent to 3% of the stock’s market price. This is the confirmation of the breakout. A Head-and-Shoulders Bottom, or any other combination Headand-Shoulders Pattern, contains the same four elements. The main difference between a Top Formation and a Bottom Formation is in the volume patterns. The breakout in a Top can be on low volume. The breakout in a Bottom must show a “conspicuous burst of activity.” Minimum Measuring Formula: add the distance between the head and neckline to the breakout point.
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