As of 03/27/2024
  Indus: 39,760 +477.75 +1.2%  
  Trans: 16,029 +177.70 +1.1%  
  Utils: 875 +23.30 +2.7%  
  Nasdaq: 16,400 +83.82 +0.5%  
  S&P 500: 5,248 +44.91 +0.9%  
YTD
 +5.5%  
 +0.8%  
-0.8%  
 +9.2%  
 +10.0%  
  Targets    Overview: 03/13/2024  
  Up arrow40,000 or 38,500 by 04/01/2024
  Up arrow16,300 or 15,350 by 04/01/2024
  Up arrow885 or 830 by 04/01/2024
  Up arrow16,600 or 15,200 by 04/01/2024
  Up arrow5,350 or 5,100 by 04/01/2024
As of 03/27/2024
  Indus: 39,760 +477.75 +1.2%  
  Trans: 16,029 +177.70 +1.1%  
  Utils: 875 +23.30 +2.7%  
  Nasdaq: 16,400 +83.82 +0.5%  
  S&P 500: 5,248 +44.91 +0.9%  
YTD
 +5.5%  
 +0.8%  
-0.8%  
 +9.2%  
 +10.0%  
  Targets    Overview: 03/13/2024  
  Up arrow40,000 or 38,500 by 04/01/2024
  Up arrow16,300 or 15,350 by 04/01/2024
  Up arrow885 or 830 by 04/01/2024
  Up arrow16,600 or 15,200 by 04/01/2024
  Up arrow5,350 or 5,100 by 04/01/2024

Bulkowski on Pattern Pairs: Eve & Adam Double Bottoms

Initial release: 12/8/2021.

The idea behind pattern pairs is to pick a chart pattern type (like broadening bottoms with upward breakouts) to buy and another to sell (like double tops). You buy the upward breakout from the broadening bottom, hold for a few years, and sell when a double top appears and breaks out downward. Along the way, you give price a chance to rise far enough to overcome those trades which are stopped out for a loss. This is a trend-following strategy.

If you see EADB in the text below, it means Eve & Adam double bottom.

Trading Eve & Adam Double Bottoms: Summary

Picture of the pattern pairs.

The figure illustrates the idea for trading pattern pairs, where price is the red line and the boxes are chart patterns. This articles assumes you buy an upward breakout from an Eve & Adam double bottom.

On the sale side, you can sell the first bearish chart pattern which comes along or wait for your favorite bearish chart pattern to appear and sell then.

Here's a list of the top five performing sell signals, based on annualized gain (annualized because the hold time is often years, in parenthesis).

Sell a...

The following list shows the expected performance of chart pattern pairs, ranked by their expectancy. Expectancy is a way of gauging winning and losing trades and how much money you might make trading a pattern pair. I put the expected profit per trade, per share, in parenthesis.

To improve performance, try these tips.

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Trading Eve & Adam Double Bottoms: Entry and Exit Conditions

The databases I built over several decades doesn't identify every chart pattern. There may be plenty of double tops over the years, for example, that I didn't catalog on the way to the one I did catalog. So buying an upward breakout from an EADB and selling at the double top I cataloged would be different than choosing to sell a different double top. However, the following analysis does give a real-world flavor for how well you might do trading chart patterns if you follow the pattern pair strategy.

Here's what I used in my analysis.

I used the following 43 chart patterns in the analysis, but some only applied if they were busted.

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Trading Eve & Adam Double Bottoms: Stops

I used a stop loss order set a penny below the bottom of the chart pattern. Price on the way down may have gapped below the stop price (for the sale price), so I used the lower of the stop price or the opening price on the day of sale).

For trailing stops, I removed the stop loss order and used a trailing stop set at 10%, 15%, 20%, or 25% below a peak, never lowering the stop value, but raising it if a higher peak came along during the trade.

In Table 1, I calculated the percentage net gain (the average of gains and losses) when using various trailing stop loss amounts (10%, 15%, 20%, and 25%) for all tested chart patterns according to the busted/non-busted buy/sell configuration. In parenthesis is the size of the average loss so I could detail how losses change with various stop loss orders.

For example, if I tested EADBs and sold various non-busted patterns (ascending triangles, broadening tops, head-and-shoulders tops, and so on), I made an average of 51% ("Stop Loss Only" column) after having a stop loss order in place. Losses averaged 14%. Replacing the stop loss with a 10% trailing stop cut the gain to 6% but also trimmed the average loss to 5%. Using a 25% trailing stop allowed me to keep more money, 21%, but losses climbed to 12%. If I didn't use any type of stop, the gain averaged 87% with losses averaging 31%.

The results show that trades which do not use a stop make the most money but losses are huge.

Table 1: Various Trailing Stop Settings: Net Profit and (Average Loss)
Data 10%  15%  20%  25%  Stop Loss 
Only
 No Stop
Non-busted buys, non-busted sales 6% (-5%)  8% (-8%)  15% (-10%)  21% (-12%)  51% (-14%)  87% (-31%) 
Non-busted buys, busted sales 5% (-5%)  8% (-8%)  15% (-10%)  21% (-13%)  52% (-13%)  86% (-27%) 

Trading Eve & Adam Double Bottoms: Busted Patterns

In 22 contests (22 different chart pattern types, depending on which apply), I compared the combination of non-busted buy/sell with non-busted buy/busted sell signals. I found that busted patterns won 50% of the time (11 of 22 contests) when buying using a non-busted pattern and selling a busted pattern (compared to non-busted for both).

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Trading Eve & Adam Double Bottoms: Non-busted Buy, Non-Busted Sale

Picture of a busted pattern pair.

Table 2 shows statistics I collected for this chart pattern using the trading rules described above and shown in the figure. A stop loss order was used and priced a penny below the bottom of the chart pattern (after buying).

For example, if you were to buy the upward breakout from an EADB and hold it until you encountered a broadening bottom (the first chart pattern listed in the table), but one with a downward breakout, you'd net an average of 31% on the 160 (46 winners, 114 losers) trades. That's an average of 142% on your winners, 14% average loss on your losers. You'd find that only 29% of the trades made money but you'd gain an average of 16% per year (ranking 41 where 1 is best). If you removed the stop loss order and just held on until the broadening bottom with a downward breakout appeared, you'd make an average of 70% per trade.

The expectancy averages $1.19 per share per trade which ranks 54th where 1 is the best value.

Notes: The rank is based on the net gain for both performance tables (tables 2 and 3) shown below. Trades with sample counts below 30 are not ranked.

Table 2: Statistics for Eve & Adam Double Bottoms
Sell PatternAverage
Win
Average
Loss
NetAnnualized
Net
RankNo Stop
Net
Win/Loss
Samples
Win
Loss
Average
Expectancy
Expectancy
Rank
Broadening bottom142%-14%31%16%4170%46/11429%$1.1954
Broadening top173%-15%58%23%1692%107/17039%$7.4123
Broadening formation, right-angled and ascending108%-16%24%11%5357%49/10232%$2.5550
Broadening formation, right-angled and descending74%-15%18%9%5533%39/6538%$4.7741
Broadening wedge, ascending183%-16%75%35%2102%47/5646%$6.6431
Broadening wedge, descending166%-15%59%21%2077%32/4641%$4.3845
Bump-and-run reversal top187%-14%81%35%3105%137/15447%$8.6418
Diamond bottom323%-12%147%44%1181%20/2248%$11.2610
Diamond top147%-15%66%28%10102%64/6550%$10.9813
Adam & Adam double top212%-13%68%25%12127%296/52236%$10.7515
Adam & Eve double top148%-13%45%19%3084%123/22136%$10.3117
Eve & Adam double top170%-13%60%21%21106%156/23840%$11.2011
Eve & Eve double top153%-14%49%21%22106%151/25138%$14.094
Falling wedge128%-14%29%16%4633%23/5330%$0.2856
Head-and-shoulders top161%-14%52%20%2492%432/71838%$8.3819
Head-and-shoulders, complex top114%-16%35%16%4064%74/11439%$3.2648
Rectangle top139%-15%42%19%2959%63/10737%$6.7829
Rising wedge124%-14%38%18%3375%119/19538%$4.5544
Rounding top147%-15%44%17%3856%56/9836%$5.8840
Ascending scallop82%-15%20%15%4932%25/4436%-$0.7957
Descending scallop161%-16%53%24%1480%197/31439%$6.1936
Scallop, inverted and ascending136%-12%43%19%3268%19/3237%$13.145
Scallop, descending and inverted119%-15%31%16%4742%90/17334%$2.2952
Triangle, ascending176%-15%53%24%1385%70/12736%$4.7242
Triangle, descending154%-16%36%17%3663%63/14131%$1.6553
Triangle, symmetrical181%-16%57%23%1784%208/35337%$6.1737
Triple top195%-15%59%22%19107%299/55835%$6.0139
Rectangle bottom111%-17%23%11%5221%41/9231%$11.279
3 falling peaks133%-14%39%17%3967%321/56136%$6.7430
Roof161%-12%63%32%576%19/2543%$6.8326
Roof, inverted211%-15%71%29%6117%30/4938%$11.0312
Sell PatternAverage
Win
Average
Loss
NetAnnualized
Net
RankNo Stop
Net
Win/Loss
Samples
Win
Loss
Average
Expectancy
Expectancy
Rank

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Trading Eve & Adam Double Bottoms: Non-busted Buy, Busted Sale

Picture of a busted pattern pair.

The figure shows an example of how this trade unfolds.

A bullish chart pattern appears and you buy at the breakout. Continue holding until your selected chart pattern appears. The chart pattern is bullish because it has an upward breakout but then things go wrong. Price reverses. Sell when the stock dips below the bottom of the chart pattern (meaning it busts the upward breakout).

Table 3 shows the performance statistics for this setup (buying a normal EADB and selling only after a busted chart pattern appears). A stop loss order was used and priced a penny below the bottom of the chart pattern (after buying).

For example, buying a EADB with an upward breakout in a bull market and selling a busted broadening top shows winning trades making an average of 115%. Losing trades lost 10%, giving a net gain of 44%. The annualized gain is 14% in this case, giving the setup a rank of 50 (where 1 is best). If you traded this without a stop, the net gain climbed to 53%. Of the stocks I looked at, I found 70 trades with 43% of them winning. Expectancy was a $6.81 per share, ranking 27th where 1 is best.

Trades with sample counts below 30 are not ranked.

Table 3: Statistics for Normal Buy, Busted Sale
Sell PatternAverage
Win
Average
Loss
NetAnnualized
Net
RankNo Stop
Net
Win/Loss
Samples
Win
Loss
Average
Expectancy
Expectancy
Rank
Broadening bottom115%-10%44%14%5053%26/3443%$6.8127
Broadening top198%-13%88%28%9122%64/6948%$14.893
Broadening formation, right-angled and ascending83%-13%20%7%5738%16/3134%$6.2135
Broadening formation, right-angled and descending120%-14%26%12%5176%17/3930%$0.8355
Broadening wedge, ascending123%-13%30%87%6/1332%
Broadening wedge, descending58%-14%17%9%5635%13/1842%$3.6546
Bump-and-run reversal bottom167%-14%43%16%4362%11/2431%$7.1424
Cup with handle179%-15%54%59%6/1135%
Diamond bottom87%-10%25%15%4836%15/2637%$13.066
Diamond top217%-14%56%28%8122%16/3730%$6.1438
Adam & Adam double bottom283%-12%95%28%11140%85/14936%$10.6116
Adam & Eve double bottom147%-14%39%16%4277%51/10333%$6.8028
Eve & Adam double bottom163%-12%45%17%37107%42/8832%$6.4432
Eve & Eve double bottom181%-17%56%19%2781%32/5537%$10.7914
Falling wedge168%-15%55%29%7112%24/3938%$3.1649
Head-and-shoulders bottom164%-12%50%18%3472%71/13035%$6.9625
Head-and-shoulders complex bottom141%-11%30%50%7/1927%
Rectangle top149%-15%52%19%2876%33/4841%$8.2621
Rising wedge230%-12%115%33%4161%29/2653%$6.4333
Round bottom105%-17%10%9%2/722%
Rounding top106%-14%37%37%6/843%
Ascending scallop138%-13%54%23%1879%39/4845%$6.3534
Descending scallop148%-12%44%16%4465%13/2435%$8.2820
Scallop, inverted and ascending144%-13%55%20%2679%40/5343%$12.377
Scallop, descending and inverted135%-12%57%18%3557%22/2547%$12.178
Triangle, ascending202%-14%60%24%1578%30/5734%$3.3647
Triangle, descending74%-13%20%10%5456%22/3638%$2.5151
Triangle, symmetrical173%-13%43%20%2588%74/17330%$4.6543
Triple bottom156%-14%46%19%3171%96/17835%$15.752
Rectangle bottom241%-14%46%21%2374%11/3623%$7.5522
3 rising valleys141%-13%44%16%4586%65/11037%$16.611
Roof134%-15%12%82%4/1818%
Roof, inverted121%-13%29%49%9/2031%
Sell PatternAverage
Win
Average
Loss
NetAnnualized
Net
RankNo Stop
Net
Win/Loss
Samples
Win
Loss
Average
Expectancy
Expectancy
Rank

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Trading Eve & Adam Double Bottoms: Performance Improvements

Here are a few ideas the data suggested which may improve performance of your pattern pairs trading.

Trend Start: Short, Medium, or Long

Find the trend start for your chart pattern. Often you can just look at a chart and see where the trend begins. If not, or you want to be sure, then the glossary describes how to find it.

Determine the length from the trend start to the pattern's start: short term (less than 3 months), medium term (3 to 6 months) or long term (more than 6 months).

Table 4 shows the results for the combinations of busted/non-busted trades and the resulting performance.

Buying EADBs with a short-term (up to 3 months) duration from the trend start to the pattern's start results in substantially better performance.

Table 4: Short (S) Medium (M) or Long (L) Trend Start and Performance
 Sell Non-Busted PatternSell Busted Pattern
Buy non-busted patternS67% M36% L24%S68% M38% L21%

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Moving Averages: 50- and 200-Day SMA

I checked two moving averages at buy time, 50- and 200-day simple moving averages (not as a crossover setup). I compared the breakout price to the value of the moving average. Table 5 shows the performance of buying or selling busted or non-busted patterns when the breakout price was above (A) or below (B) the 50-day simple moving average (SMA).

Buy EADBs when the breakout price is below the 50-day SMA.

Table 5: Above (A) Below (B) 50-Day Simple Moving Average
 Sell Non-Busted PatternSell Busted Pattern
Buy non-busted patternA43% B61%A43% B62%

Table 6 shows the results of using a longer moving average, the 200-day. Traders often use this as a proxy for the long-term trend.

EADBs worked best if the breakout price was below the 200-day SMA.

Table 6: Above (A) Below (B) 200-Day Simple Moving Average
 Sell Non-Busted PatternSell Busted Pattern
Buy non-busted patternA46% B57%A43% B62%

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Selling First Bearish Chart Pattern

The prior discussion assumes you buy an EADB but sell a chart pattern of your choosing, such as a downward breakout from a head-and-shoulders top (you wait for one to appear). What if you sold the first bearish chart pattern which comes along? How would you do?

Table 7 shows the results sorted by the type of patterns involved (busted or non-busted). For example, if you buy an EADB and sell the first non-busted chart pattern which comes along, you'd make 19% on average. Annualized, you'd make 43%. This compares to a 21% annualized gain if you sell a designated pattern (like you waited for a double top before selling, which may or may not be the first bearish chart pattern to come along).

Selling the first bearish chart pattern which appears makes more money than selling after a designated pattern.

The bottom half of the table shows expectancy for the combinations. The highest expectancy ($5.16) associates with buying an EADB and selling the first non-busted pattern which appears.

Table 7: Selling the First Bearish Pattern (Annualized)
 Sell Non-Busted PatternSell Busted Pattern
Buy non-busted pattern19% (43% v 21%)19% (43% v 20%)
Expectancy (Below)
 Sell Non-Busted PatternSell Busted Pattern
Buy non-busted pattern$5.16$3.46

-- Thomas Bulkowski

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