Head and Shoulders Continuation
An inverse head-and-shoulders shape inside an uptrend; completes on a close above the neckline.
Edwards & Magee note that head-and-shoulders shapes sometimes form as a pause in an existing trend rather than at its end. Here the inverse shape forms after a rise, and the breakout above the neckline continues the trend.
Less common and less studied than the reversal forms.
How we define it
- Same shape rules as the inverse head and shoulders: three troughs, the middle lowest, near-horizontal neckline tested twice
- Price rallied into the pattern (the prior trend is up)
- Minimum length: 2 months on 1D, 3 months on 1W, 10 days on 4H
- Breakout (up) / breakdown (down): the first candle close beyond the boundary by at least 3% on 1D and 1W (1.5% on 4H)
- Failed breaks: a breakout or breakdown that closes back inside the boundary within 6 candles on 4H, 5 on 1D or 3 on 1W is removed from the list
- Trend filter: breakouts only above the 200-period EMA (40-week EMA on 1W), breakdowns only below it
- Watchlist: the pattern is complete but unbroken and price is within 3% (or 1 ATR, at most 6%) of the boundary
No recent breakout or breakdown
No head and shoulders continuation has completed recently. See all patterns.
Nothing on the watchlist
No mature head and shoulders continuation is close to its breakout or breakdown level right now.