Triple Bottom
A triple bottom is a reversal base in which price tests roughly the same support level three times without breaking it. Each successful test represents buyers defending the level; the third adds weight to the case that supply there has been exhausted.
- Bias
- Bullish
- Category
- Chart Patterns
- Scan cadence
- Every close
What has to be true for a Triple Bottom to trigger
- Three distinct lows at broadly similar levels
- Interim rallies separating each low
- Support holding on all three tests
- Enough time between lows for each to be a distinct test
How PatternGrade grades it
Closely aligned lows and clean, distinct rallies between them grade higher. Scattered lows or a drifting support level 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 Triple Bottom looks like in practice
Over four months a stock tests the $28 area three times: January, mid-February, and late March. It bounces 10-15% from the level each time and fails near $33 twice before the third bounce carries through. Each successive test comes on lighter volume than the last, and the final one barely registers relative to the first.
How a Triple Bottom fails
The fourth test breaks. Support that has been tested three times is well known, and levels that are well known tend to eventually give way. Each test consumes some of the buying that was defending it. When the break comes it is often fast, because the same visibility that made the level obvious also concentrated stop orders just beneath it. The warning sign is volume rising on the approach to the level rather than falling.
What this pattern is telling you
Repeated tests of a level cut both ways. The more often support is tested, the more supply sits there, and a fourth test that fails tends to fail hard.
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 Triple Bottom 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 Triple Bottom list, or browse all 75 patterns.
Triple Bottom FAQ
Is a triple bottom stronger than a double bottom?
It represents more tests of support surviving, which some traders read as stronger. It also takes longer to form and can mean the stock is struggling to advance.
Is a triple bottom stronger than a double bottom?
It is more evidence that a level matters, which cuts both ways. Three defences show real demand, but they also advertise the level to everyone watching and consume some of the buying that was there. Repeatedly tested support is more likely to break than support tested once, which is why the caveat on this pattern is worth reading.
Do the three lows need to be at the same price?
Approximately, not exactly. A band of a few percent is normal and expected. What matters is that a reader would identify all three as tests of the same area rather than as independent lows.
How long does a triple bottom take?
Typically two to six months on daily bars, since three separate tests with rallies between them need time. A triple bottom that forms in two weeks is usually day-to-day noise being read as structure.
When is a triple bottom confirmed?
On a decisive close above the resistance formed by the intervening rally highs. Until then it is a stock repeatedly failing to break support, which is not yet the same as a stock reversing.
Patterns a Triple Bottom is mistaken for
- Double Bottom
- Two tests rather than three. The count is the distinction, though in practice a double bottom that gets tested once more becomes this pattern.
- Darvas Box
- A box requires a defined ceiling as well as a floor and is read as consolidation. A triple bottom is read as a reversal after a decline. Context before the pattern separates them.
- Rounded Bottom
- A rounded bottom has no discrete tests: it is a smooth transition. Three identifiable spikes down make it a triple bottom.
Last reviewed . Structure and grading for the Triple Bottom are reviewed against the scanner's own rules.