Triple top and triple bottom

Three attempts at the same level, three failures

A triple top is the bigger sibling of the double top. Three peaks at roughly the same price level, separated by two valleys. Buyers tried three times to push price through a level. They failed three times. The shape on a chart looks like three flat hills lined up in a row. The level that capped all three peaks is acting as a hard ceiling.

The neckline in a triple top is drawn across the higher of the two intervening valleys. A close below the neckline is the confirmation. The reason triple tops are less common than double tops is mechanical. If a level rejected price twice, sellers are usually emboldened on the second test, and price often breaks down right after the second peak. Reaching a third test means buyers had enough conviction to try one more time, which itself is unusual.

The triple bottom is the flipped version at the bottom of a downtrend. Three valleys at roughly the same level with two peaks between them. The neckline is drawn across the lower of the two intervening peaks. Trigger is a close above the neckline. Same logic. Sellers tried three times to push price lower and failed three times. That repeated failure at a floor is meaningful information.

One nuance worth holding on to. Some triple top setups can morph into a rectangle if price stays inside the range without breaking the neckline. The shape on the chart looks similar in real time. The difference is the trigger. A triple top needs a neckline break. A rectangle that holds becomes a continuation pattern. Until price closes through one boundary or the other, you do not know which one it is. That is normal. Patterns are clearer after the fact than during.

Recap: triple top is three peaks at the same level confirmed on a neckline break, triple bottom is the same flipped. Less common than the double version because price usually resolves earlier. The neckline break is the only trigger that matters. Without that close-through event, you have a range with clear boundaries but no signal to act on, and the same shape can morph into continuation rather than reversal.