Bulkowski’s Chart Pattern Failure Rank

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This is a list of chart patterns that shows the performance rank of each formation by its failure rate. A chart pattern fails if price does not move more than 5% away from the breakout price before reversing trend (a 20% trend change). A rank of 1 (best) means the chart pattern has the smallest failure rate. N/A means the chart pattern uses a different method to gauge performance than the other chart patterns (usually the measure from the breakout to the swing high or swing low, not to the highest high or lowest low before a trend change). Thus, a performance comparison would be unfair and meaningless. For more information see the book Encyclopedia of Chart Patterns, Second Edition.

Bull Market Chart Patterns

Chart Pattern	Break even Failure Rate Rank
Gaps	N/A
Measured Move Down	N/A
Measured Move Up	N/A
Flags, down breakout	1
Flags, High and Tight, up breakout	1
Broadening Wedges, Ascending, up breakout	2
Bump-and-Run Reversal Bottoms, up breakout	2
Head-and-Shoulders Tops, Complex, down breakout	2
Head-and-Shoulders Tops, down breakout	2
Pennants, down breakout	2
Pennants, up breakout	2
Bump-and-run Reversal Tops, down breakout	3
Head-and-Shoulders Bottoms, up breakout	3
Islands, Long, down breakout	3
Diamond Bottoms, up breakout	4
Diamond Tops, down breakout	4
Double Bottoms, Eve & Adam, up breakout	4
Double Bottoms, Eve & Eve, up breakout	4
Flags, up breakout	4
Head-and-Shoulders Bottoms, Complex, up breakout	4
Scallops, Ascending and Inverted, up breakout	4
Triple Bottoms, up breakout	4
Cup-with-Handle, up breakout	5
Double Bottoms, Adam & Adam, up breakout	5
Double Bottoms, Adam & Eve, up breakout	5
Horn Tops, down breakout	5
Pipe Bottom, up breakout	5
Rounding Bottoms, up breakout	5
Three Rising Valleys, up breakout	5
Broadening Wedges, Descending, up breakout	6
Double Tops, Adam & Adam, down breakout	6
Broadening Wedges, Descending, down breakout	7
Triangles, Descending, up breakout	7
Diamond Bottoms, down breakout	8
Scallops, Inverted and Descending, down breakout	8
Triple Tops, down breakout	8
Wedges, Rising, up breakout	8
Broadening Wedges, Ascending, down breakout	9
Cup-with-Handle, Inverted, down breakout	9
Double Tops, Eve & Eve, down breakout	9
Horn Bottoms, up breakout	9
Pipe Tops, down breakout	9
Rectangles Tops, down breakout	9
Rectangles Tops, up breakout	9
Rounding Tops, up breakout	9
Triangles, Ascending, down breakout	9
Triangles, Symmetrical, up breakout	9
Broadening Bottoms, up breakout	10
Diamond Tops, up breakout	10
Rectangles Bottoms, up breakout	10
Rounding Tops, down breakout	10
Scallops, Ascending, up breakout	10
Three Falling Peaks, down breakout	10
Broadening Formations, Right-Angled and Ascending, up breakout	11
Double Tops, Eve & Adam, down breakout	11
Islands, Long, up breakout	11
Triangles, Symmetrical, down breakout	11
Wedges, Falling, up breakout	11
Broadening Formations, Right-Angled and Descending, down breakout	12
Double Tops, Adam & Eve, down breakout	12
Triangles, Ascending, up breakout	12
Broadening Tops, up breakout	13
Scallops, Descending, down breakout	13
Wedges, Falling, down breakout	13
Broadening Bottoms, down breakout	14
Islands Reversals, up breakout	14
Triangles, Descending, down breakout	14
Broadening Formations, Right-Angled and Descending, up breakout	15
Islands Reversals, down breakout	15
Rectangles Bottoms, down breakout	15
Broadening Tops, down breakout	16
Scallops, Descending, up breakout	16
Broadening Formations, Right-Angled and Ascending, down breakout	17
Wedges, Rising, down breakout	18
Scallops, Ascending, down breakout	19