An illustrated glossary of the shapes technical analysis uses most: what they look like, the meaning the textbooks give them, and what the research has found about that meaning. This page is a glossary — this site searches no instrument for patterns, publishes no sightings and names no direction.
Head and Shoulders
The shape. Three peaks: the middle one (the head) higher than the two beside it (the shoulders), the shoulders roughly level. The line through the two troughs between them is the neckline.
Textbook reading: a topping pattern seen at the end of an uptrend; a break below the neckline is read as the trend having ended.
Posts about this shape: Grafik formasyonu nedir, ne değildir? · Omuz baş omuz ve aynadaki hâli · The posts are in Turkish.
Inverse Head and Shoulders
The shape. Head and shoulders in a mirror: three troughs, the middle one deeper than the other two. The neckline runs through the peaks between the troughs.
Textbook reading: a bottoming pattern seen at the end of a downtrend; a break above the neckline is read as the decline having ended.
A post about this shape: Omuz baş omuz ve aynadaki hâli · The posts are in Turkish.
Double Top
The shape. Two peaks of roughly the same height with a clear trough between them. Shaped like the letter M.
Textbook reading: a topping pattern in which the price tests the same level twice and fails to pass it; a break of the trough between them is read as a decline.
A post about this shape: İkili tepe, ikili dip: M ve W · The posts are in Turkish.
Double Bottom
The shape. Two troughs of roughly the same depth with a clear peak between them. Shaped like the letter W.
Textbook reading: a bottoming pattern in which the price turns from the same level twice; a break of the peak between them is read as a rise.
A post about this shape: İkili tepe, ikili dip: M ve W · The posts are in Turkish.
Cup and Handle
The shape. A wide U-shaped cup with a soft floor; on its right edge a second, smaller and shallower dip (the handle).
Textbook reading: a small pullback after a wide, rounded bottom; a break above the top of the handle is read as the rise continuing.
A post about this shape: Devam formasyonları: bayrak, flama, çanak ve kulp · The posts are in Turkish.
Flag
The shape. A steep pole (the earlier move) with the price squeezed between two parallel lines that slope gently against it.
Textbook reading: after a sharp move, a short rest in a narrow parallel channel sloping against the trend; when the channel breaks, the move is assumed to continue the same way.
A post about this shape: Devam formasyonları: bayrak, flama, çanak ve kulp · The posts are in Turkish.
Pennant
The shape. A steep pole with a small, symmetrical triangle attached to it.
Textbook reading: the flag's sibling; after the pole the price squeezes into a narrowing triangle rather than a parallel channel, and the break is expected the same way.
A post about this shape: Devam formasyonları: bayrak, flama, çanak ve kulp · The posts are in Turkish.
Ascending Triangle
The shape. A horizontal line on top, an upward-sloping line below; the price swings between them in ever narrower arcs.
Textbook reading: a flat resistance and rising troughs; a break of the resistance is read as a rise, but triangles can break either way.
A post about this shape: Üçgenler: sıkışmanın üç hâli · The posts are in Turkish.
Descending Triangle
The shape. A horizontal line below, a downward-sloping line on top; the swings narrow towards the corner.
Textbook reading: a flat support and falling peaks; a break of the support is read as a decline — again, it can break either way.
A post about this shape: Üçgenler: sıkışmanın üç hâli · The posts are in Turkish.
Symmetrical Triangle
The shape. A zigzag that shrinks with every swing, between one line sloping down and one sloping up.
Textbook reading: falling peaks and rising troughs together; it gives no direction, only that the price is being squeezed and will break one way soon.
Posts about this shape: Grafik formasyonu nedir, ne değildir? · Üçgenler: sıkışmanın üç hâli · The posts are in Turkish.
These shapes have been taught for decades, but the academic answer to "do they work" is lukewarm. The first large study to search for patterns by algorithm rather than by eye (Lo, Mamaysky and Wang, 2000) found that some shapes carry "some incremental information" about the distribution of prices — it made no claim of profitability. Later work is cooler: once data-mining corrections are applied, out-of-sample success largely disappears, and head and shoulders on its own does not emerge as a profitable strategy.
In practice this means: a pattern is a way of saying "people are watching this level"; not a way of saying "the price is going there". That is why this site teaches the shapes and marks them on no chart. Why we never say which way is in the FAQ.