Inverse Head & Shoulders
An inverse head and shoulders is a bottoming reversal: a deep low (the head) sits between two shallower lows (the shoulders), with the intervening highs forming a neckline. Breaking the neckline completes the pattern and is conventionally read as the reversal confirming.
- Bias
- Bullish
- Category
- Chart Patterns
- Scan cadence
- Every close
What has to be true for a Inverse Head & Shoulders to trigger
- A central low clearly deeper than the two flanking lows
- Two shoulders at broadly comparable levels
- A definable neckline across the intervening highs
- Reasonable symmetry between the left and right shoulder
- Volume typically heaviest at the head and lighter on the right shoulder
How PatternGrade grades it
Symmetry between the shoulders, a clearly lower head, and a well-defined neckline all raise the grade. Lopsided shoulders or an ambiguous neckline grade lower.
Every scanner grades its hits A+, A or B from the pattern's own measurable structure. The grading is deterministic — the same chart always produces the same grade. It describes how closely the chart matches the pattern, not how likely anything is to happen; no hit rate or probability is attached to a grade. The reasoning is set out in the methodology.
What a Inverse Head & Shoulders looks like in practice
A stock drops to $31 (left shoulder), bounces to $37, falls to $26 (head), recovers to $36, then sells off to $30 (right shoulder) before turning up. The two rallies to $36-37 form a roughly horizontal neckline. Volume is heaviest on the decline into the head, noticeably lighter on the right shoulder, and expands as price approaches the neckline.
How a Inverse Head & Shoulders fails
The right shoulder undercuts the head. Once that happens the symmetry the pattern rests on is gone and the stock is making new lows, which is a downtrend rather than a reversal. The second failure is the neckline rejection: price rallies from the right shoulder, reaches the neckline, and turns away on light volume. That specific failure is common enough that many traders wait for the neckline to be cleared before treating the pattern as real.
What this pattern is telling you
The pattern is not complete until the neckline breaks, and necklines are frequently redrawn after the fact. An unbroken inverse head and shoulders is a candidate, not a reversal.
PatternGrade is not a financial advisor and does not give buy or sell recommendations. Targets and stops shown on a pattern are reference levels derived from its geometry, not advice.
How to scan for Inverse Head & Shoulders setups
PatternGrade rescans every liquid US stock (~4,500 names) for this pattern after every close and returns the hits as a graded list, with the pattern drawn on each chart, so you review setups rather than hunt for them.
Join the waitlist to be invited when sign-ups reopen and see the current Inverse Head & Shoulders list, or browse all 75 patterns.
Inverse Head & Shoulders FAQ
Is an inverse head and shoulders bullish?
Yes. It is the standard bottoming reversal pattern, conventionally confirmed when price closes above the neckline.
How do I find inverse head and shoulders patterns?
PatternGrade's scanner measures shoulder symmetry, head depth and neckline definition across every liquid US stock after each close, then grades each detection A+, A or B.
Do the shoulders need to be symmetrical?
Roughly, not exactly. Real examples are frequently lopsided, and a right shoulder that is shallower and shorter than the left is common and generally read as constructive. It means sellers gave up sooner the second time. What matters is that both shoulders are clearly above the head.
Does the neckline have to be horizontal?
No. A slightly upward-sloping neckline is usually read as stronger, since it means the interim rallies made progress. A steeply downward-sloping neckline weakens the pattern considerably, because it says each bounce was weaker than the last.
What is the measured target?
Conventionally the distance from the head to the neckline, projected upward from the neckline break. PatternGrade draws it as a reference derived from the geometry. It is a projection from the shape, not a forecast, and it is reached less often than the textbooks imply.
Is an inverse head and shoulders a reliable bottom signal?
It is among the better-known reversal patterns and it does have a real structural argument behind it: three successively less severe waves of selling. It is also one of the most over-identified patterns in technical analysis, because almost any three-trough sequence can be squinted into one. PatternGrade's structural rules exist to make the identification mechanical rather than interpretive.
Patterns a Inverse Head & Shoulders is mistaken for
- Double Bottom
- A double bottom has two lows at similar levels. An inverse head and shoulders has three, with the middle one clearly deepest. Check whether the centre low is lower than its neighbours.
- Triple Bottom
- A triple bottom has three lows at roughly the same level. If the middle low is significantly deeper, it is an inverse head and shoulders.
- Head & Shoulders
- The same geometry inverted: a topping pattern with three highs, the middle highest. Context and direction are the only difference.
- Rounded Bottom
- A rounded bottom has no discrete lows. If you can point at three separate troughs, this pattern fits better.
Last reviewed . Structure and grading for the Inverse Head & Shoulders are reviewed against the scanner's own rules.