As of 07/01/2025   Indus: 44,495 +400.17 +0.9%     Trans: 15,833 +438.96 +2.9%     Utils: 1,056 +1.94 +0.2%     Nasdaq: 20,203 -166.84 -0.8%     S&P 500: 6,198 -6.94 -0.1%	YTD  +4.6%   -0.4%    +7.5%    +4.6%    +5.4%	Targets    Overview: 06/30/2025     45,100 or 43,000 by 07/15/2025   16,120 or 14,700 by 07/15/2025   1,090 or 1,025 by 07/15/2025   21,300 or 19,600 by 07/15/2025   6,350 or 6,000 by 07/15/2025
Chart Pattern Indicator: on 6/24/25

As of 07/01/2025   Indus: 44,495 +400.17 +0.9%     Trans: 15,833 +438.96 +2.9%     Utils: 1,056 +1.94 +0.2%     Nasdaq: 20,203 -166.84 -0.8%     S&P 500: 6,198 -6.94 -0.1%	YTD  +4.6%   -0.4%    +7.5%    +4.6%    +5.4%
Targets    Overview: 06/30/2025     45,100 or 43,000 by 07/15/2025   16,120 or 14,700 by 07/15/2025   1,090 or 1,025 by 07/15/2025   21,300 or 19,600 by 07/15/2025   6,350 or 6,000 by 07/15/2025
Chart Pattern Indicator: on 6/24/25

Bulkowski on the V Pivot Chart Pattern

Released 12/17/2020.

Vicky Wong identified this pattern and brought it to my attention. Here's what she writes about it.

"The rapid [Covid-19] meltdown of February/March 2020 redefined "velocity" for many market participants, including novice traders like me from Singapore. Expectedly, my portfolio was in bad shape. The eventuality of a trend reversal solaced me.

"Being an avid reader of ThePatternSite.com (particularly, Pattern Trading Setups for the Weekend), I've learned that pipe bottoms and horn bottoms are very common when a stock transitions from trending down to range or trending up.

"Sometime in June 2020, I chanced upon a modified version of the horn bottom, where the middle bar of a horn was lower than the other two. Over the next three months, I identified more of them and call them V Pivots.

"Two features that popped: They are reliable at calling bottoms (i.e. they usually mark the end of downtrend) and post breakout performance is remarkably good. I conclude there is some degree of practical application."

I tested the performance of the pattern and present the results below.

Important Results Identification Guidelines Trading Tips Examples See Also

V Pivot Bottom Chart Pattern

V Pivot: Important Bull Market Results

The above numbers are based on almost 1,400 perfect trades on the weekly scale. See the glossary for definitions.

V Pivot: Identification Guidelines

Refer to the image to the right of the table.

Characteristic	Discussion
Weekly chart	Use the weekly chart to locate V pivots.
Price trend	Random. Fifty-one percent act as reversals of the downward price leading to the pattern.
Shape	Looks like a V, a 3-bar pattern with the middle bar below the adjacent ones. The picture to the right shows the V pivot composed of bars 1, 2, and 3.
Percentages	For identification, using the low price of each bar in the comparison, I used a 2% minimum: The low at bar 1 is at least 2% above the low of bar 2. The low of bar 3 is at least 2% above the low of bar 2.
Confirmation	The pattern confirms as valid when price closes above the highest price in the 3 bars. In this example, that means a close above bar 1 (the highest priced bar among 1, 2, and 3).

V Pivot: Trading Tips

Trading Tactic	Explanation	The Measure Rule
Measure rule	See the Measure Rule figure to the right. Compute the height from the lowest price (point A) to the highest price (B) in the 3-week pattern. Add it to the top of the pattern (B) to get the price target (C). Price reaches the target 74% of the time on average.
Volume	V pivots with heavy breakout volume outperform (on average).
Breakout	A breakout occurs when price closes above the highest price bar in the 3-bar pattern. In the figure, that means a close above line B (above the first bar in this pattern).
Confirmation	Wait for a breakout before entering a position.

V Pivot: Examples

Here is a slider show of three examples.

1 / 3

On this chart, I highlight one V pivot (B) in the inset. Circled in green (A) is another similar pivot but I didn't check to see if it meets the ID guidelines of a 2% clearance of the lows. Because pivot B is so tall, you sacrifice profit while waiting for confirmation. Note that many V pivots appeared in the Covid-19 drop in March. Buy when price closes above highest of the 3 bars, like that shown.

Another example appears on the next slide.

2 / 3

Circled in red is the V pivot, a 3-bar pattern. I show this chart because the pivot appears in an upward price trend. My computer program still calls this a reversal because price changes trend from slightly downward to up (it's at the bottom of a retrace).

Another example appears on the next slide.

3 / 3

Here's another example of a V pivot during the Covid-19 pandemic. This one happens later in the year than shown in the first slide.

The end.

❮ ❯

-- Thomas Bulkowski

See Also

• Tails are very similar to V pivots.
• Horn bottoms were the inspiration for the V pivot
• A pipe bottom has the middle week removed.
• Pivot point reversal, downtrend
• Pivot point reversal, uptrend

 

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