Written by and copyright © 2005-2019 by Thomas N. Bulkowski. All rights reserved. Disclaimer: You alone are responsible for your investment decisions.
See Privacy/Disclaimer for more information. Some pattern names are the registered trademarks of their respective owners.
There are more than one pattern called a key reversal. Here is one implementation.
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Key Reversal, Uptrend
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Important Bull Market Results for Key Reversal
Overall performance rank (1 is best)**: 16/23
Break even failure rate*: 45% (Up breakouts)
Average rise*: 7%
Percentage meeting price target*: 71%
The above numbers are based on hundreds of perfect trades as of 3/12/2013. See the glossary for definitions.
* Based on the trend high, not the ultimate high. See text.
** Based on the average rise compared to other small patterns with upward breakouts in a bull market
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Key Reversal, Uptrend, Identification Guidelines
Characteristic | Discussion |
2 bars | The pattern is composed of two bars. |
Uptrend | Look for the pattern in a short-term uptrend. |
Outside day | The pattern forms an outside day. However, in this case, look for an open above the prior close, a close below the prior low, and a high above the prior day's high. |

Key Reversal, Uptrend, Trading Tips
Trading Tactic | Explanation |
Reversal | The pattern is supposed to act as a reversal of the uptrend. However, testing shows that 51% actually continue higher. |
Trade | Trade in the breakout direction. A breakout occurs when price closes either above the top or below the bottom of the pattern. |
Measure rule | The key reversal fulfills the measure rule 71% of the time (bull market, up breakout). That is, measure the height of the pattern and subtract it from
the low price to get a downward target. For upward targets, add the height to the price of the top of the pattern. |
Key Reversal, Uptrend, Performance Statistics
For the following statistics, I used 1,189 stocks, starting from January 1990 to March 2013, but few stocks covered the entire range. All stocks had a minimum price of $5.
There were two bear markets in the 2000s (as determined by the S&P 500 index), from 3/24/2000 to 10/10/2002 and 10/12/2007 to 3/6/2009.
Everything outside of those dates represents a bull market.
For each uptrend key reversal, I found when the trend started and when it ended. To find the trend peak or valley, I found the lowest valley and highest peak within plus or minus 10 days
(21 days total) each, before the key reversal and the same peak/valley test after the key reversal. The closest valley or peak before the key reversal
is where the trend began. The closest peak or valley after the key reversal is where the trend ended. I compared the peak or valley to the average of the highest high and lowest low
price of the key reversal pattern.
The 10-bar peak or valley number tends to find major turning points on the daily charts.
I measured performance from the opening price the day after price closed either above the top or below the bottom of the pattern to the nearest trend peak or trend valley.
To determine the inbound price trend (I was looking for an up trend), I used linear regression on the average of the high-low prices in the five days before the pattern. That caught the short-term trend.
Key Reversal, Uptrend, Performance and Failure Rates
Table 1: Performance and Failure Rates
Market/Breakout direction | 5% Failure | Average Rise/Drop |
Bull market, up breakout | 45% | 7% |
Bull market, down breakout | 50% | -6% |
Bear market, up breakout | 39% | 9% |
Bear market, down breakout | 33% | -11% |
Table 1 lists the failure rates, sorted by market condition along with the average rise or drop. Although the key reversal is supposed
to act as a reversal of the upward trend, I did not make that assumption. Instead, I let the pattern decide the breakout direction.
A failure occurs when the stock fails to move more than 5% in the breakout direction.
The failure rates may appear high, but that's typical for short-term patterns like the key reversal. The highest failures occur in a bull market.

Key Reversal, Uptrend, Measure Rule
Table 2: Measure Rule Performance
Market/Breakout direction | Success |
Bull market, up breakout | 71% |
Bull market, down breakout | 62% |
Bear market, up breakout | 65% |
Bear market, down breakout | 66% |
Table 2 shows how often the measure rule works. Use the measure rule to estimate of how far price is likely to move.
To do this, measure from the highest high to the lowest low in the pattern to get the height. Subtract the height from the lowest low or add it to the highest high to get the down/up target.
The best performance of the measure rule occurs in a bull market, with 71% of patterns reaching their target. Notice that the breakouts in line with the market trend (bull market,
up breakout or bear market, down breakout) reach their targets more often than the counter-trend trades.
Key Reversal, Uptrend, Trading Performance
Table 3: Testing the Key Reversal, Uptrend
Market/Breakout direction | Bull/Up | Bull/Down | Bear/Up | Bear/down |
Net profit/loss | $71.11 | $(108.82) | $(40.53) | $46.41 |
Wins | 56% | 41% | 48% | 52% |
Winning trades | 1,867 | 2,975 | 355 | 906 |
Average gain of winners | $707.73 | $747.90 | $713.07 | $760.74 |
Losses | 44% | 59% | 52% | 48% |
Losing trades | 1,456 | 4,277 | 379 | 849 |
Average loss | ($745.22) | ($704.73) | ($746.41) | ($715.89) |
Average hold time (calendar days) | 30 | 27 | 18 | 14 |
Table 3 shows the performance based on 13,177 trades using $10 commissions per trade ($20 round trip), starting with $10,000 per trade. No other adjustments were made for interest,
fees, slippage and so on.
The results are sorted by bull or bear market, up and down breakouts. The trades used the same setup as listed in Key Reversal, Uptrend, Performance Statistics.
Here's the setup.
- Find an uptrend key reversal
- Wait for price to close either above the top or below the bottom of the key reversal.
- Buy (up breakouts) or sell short (down breakouts) at the open the next day.
- Close out the trade when price moves 7% in the breakout direction.
- A stop placed 7% opposite the breakout direction also closes out the trade for a loss.
For example, in a bull market, the net gain was $71.11 for all trades. The method won 56% of the time and there were 1,867 winning
trades. The average gain of winning trades was $707.73.
Forty-four percent, or 1,456 trades were losers. They lost an average of $745.22.
The average hold time was 30 calendar days.
Notice how the gains and losses were pegged near 7%, which is how the test was setup.

Key Reversal, Uptrend, Trading Example

The figure shows a key reversal pattern in 3M (MMM) on the daily scale, shown in the inset.
Price rises leading to the key reversal. Then an outside day appears (which is the key reversal). On the second day of that pattern, price opens above the prior close, closes
below the prior day's low, and posts a high above the prior day.
If this were a reversal of the uptrend, you would see a downward breakout. That occurs here at A. Buy at the open the next day, B.
Hold until price either gains 7% or loses 7%. That occurs at C.
-- Thomas Bulkowski
See Also
Below are other short patterns...
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Written by and copyright © 2005-2019 by Thomas N. Bulkowski. All rights reserved. Disclaimer: You alone are responsible for your investment decisions.
See Privacy/Disclaimer for more information. Some pattern names are the registered trademarks of their respective owners.
Every time you lick a stamp, you're consuming one-tenth of a calorie.
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