A peak, a pullback, a second peak that can't clear the first. Two failed attempts at the same price is a stronger statement than one — read the same way, upside down, at a bottom.
Where head and shoulders needs three swings, this pattern needs only two attempts at the same level, both rejected — among the earliest reversal shapes chartists named.
The same landmark text applies the identical neckline-and-confirmation logic here — the middle trough (or peak) becomes the line to break.
Because two peaks are so common in ordinary noise, this may be the single most over-identified chart pattern in retail trading — most "double tops" are not.
Traders today weight the pattern by how deep and how separated in time the two peaks really are — not just that two bumps exist.
After an uptrend, a peak forms and pulls back meaningfully, then a second rally fails at nearly the same price — a double top. At a bottom, the identical shape inverted is a double bottom.
The pattern isn't confirmed by the second peak alone — price must close below the trough between the two peaks. At a bottom, it must close above the rally high between the two troughs.
Measure the vertical distance from the peaks down to the middle trough, then project that distance downward from the break — the same measuring logic as head and shoulders, with two swings instead of three.
Price reached a peak near $65k in the spring, pulled back sharply, then rallied back to a similar level months later before rolling over again — the two-attempt shape this pattern is built to recognize.
The December 2018 low was retested closely in early 2019 before the recovery confirmed above the intervening rally high — a widely-cited double bottom example.
A peak, a real pullback, a second peak within 1% of the first, then a close below the middle trough. What is this?
Two peaks form near the same price, but the pullback between them is shallow — only about 2% off the peak. Is this a valid double top?
A confirmed double bottom breaks its neckline upward. Two sessions later, price falls back below the neckline. What should you conclude?
Two swings, watched as they build on the left — and the mark they leave in the ledger on the right. A confirmed top, a confirmed bottom — and a wiggle that never earned the label.
Two swings and a neckline. Judge the pullback depth and whether the close cleared it — then call it: trade the break, pass, or watch (unconfirmed).
Because this shape is so simple, it's the easiest one to see where it isn't. The discipline is mechanical: demand a real, meaningful pullback between the two swings, and wait for a genuine close past the middle line before trusting the reversal.
One failed attempt at a level is a data point. Two, with a real pullback between them, is a testable claim about where the market's conviction runs out. Demand the real dip. Wait for the real break.
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.