Complex Head and Shoulders Top
A head-and-shoulders top with two or more shoulders on a side, all sharing one flat neckline.
Complex (multiple) head and shoulders have extra shoulders, and sometimes two heads. Edwards & Magee observed that they tend toward symmetry: two left shoulders often mean two right shoulders. The pattern completes on a close below the shared neckline.
Rare. A loosely drawn complex head and shoulders is easy to imagine in any range, so the neckline rules are strict.
How we define it
- 7 or 9 alternating swings of at least 2 ATR: one head and at least three shoulders, with two on at least one side
- Neckline: all reaction lows within 3% (or 15% of the height) of each other and at least 3 of them on the line; no close below it before the breakdown
- Head clearly above every shoulder; shoulders at 30-85% of the head height and within 25% of each other
- Minimum length: 2 months on 1D, 3 months on 1W, 10 days on 4H
- Breakout (up) / breakdown (down): the first candle close beyond the boundary by at least 3% on 1D and 1W (1.5% on 4H)
- Failed breaks: a breakout or breakdown that closes back inside the boundary within 6 candles on 4H, 5 on 1D or 3 on 1W is removed from the list
- Trend filter: breakouts only above the 200-period EMA (40-week EMA on 1W), breakdowns only below it
- Watchlist: the pattern is complete but unbroken and price is within 3% (or 1 ATR, at most 6%) of the boundary
No recent breakout or breakdown
No complex head and shoulders top has completed recently. See all patterns.
Nothing on the watchlist
No mature complex head and shoulders top is close to its breakout or breakdown level right now.