Triple Top
A triple top forms when price tests roughly the same resistance three times and fails each time. Each rejection confirms supply at the level; the third failure strengthens the case that the level will hold.
- Bias
- Bearish
- Category
- Short Setups
- Scan cadence
- Every close
What has to be true for a Triple Top to trigger
- Three distinct peaks at broadly similar levels
- Pullbacks separating each attempt
- Resistance holding on all three tests
How PatternGrade grades it
Closely aligned peaks and clean, distinct pullbacks between them raise the grade.
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 Top looks like in practice
A stock tests $42 three times over five months, in November, January and March, failing within about a percent each time and pulling back 8-12% from it. Volume declines with each attempt. On the fourth approach, instead of testing $42 again, price rolls over from $39 and breaks the $37 support that held the three pullbacks.
How a Triple Top fails
The fourth test breaks through. Resistance tested three times is widely visible, and visible levels attract breakout orders. When a triple top finally gives way it often does so sharply, in the direction opposite to the pattern's implication. This is the mirror of the triple bottom problem: repeated tests are evidence a level matters, and also evidence it is being worn down.
What this pattern is telling you
The more often a level is tested, the more supply is absorbed, and a fourth attempt that clears often runs hard. Repeated tests are not one-directional evidence.
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 Top 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 Top list, or browse all 75 patterns.
Triple Top FAQ
What does a triple top mean?
Price has failed three times at the same resistance level, indicating persistent supply there. It is read as a bearish reversal pattern.
Is a triple top stronger than a double top?
It is more evidence that a level is being defended, and simultaneously more evidence that the defence is being tested to exhaustion. Levels that are repeatedly tested tend eventually to break, so the pattern carries a real risk of resolving the opposite way, which is why the caveat matters.
How long does a triple top take to form?
Typically two to six months on daily bars, since three separate tests with pullbacks between them need time. Anything much faster is usually day-to-day volatility being read as structure.
When is a triple top confirmed?
On a decisive close below the support formed by the intervening troughs. Until then it is a stock repeatedly failing at resistance, which is a description rather than a reversal signal.
What volume pattern supports a triple top?
Declining volume across the three attempts, indicating fading interest at the level, followed by expanding volume on the support break. Rising volume on the third test is the main warning that the level may be about to give way upward instead.
Patterns a Triple Top is mistaken for
- Double Top
- Two tests rather than three. In practice a double top that gets tested once more becomes this pattern.
- Head & Shoulders
- Three peaks with the middle clearly highest. A triple top's three peaks are at roughly the same level.
- Descending Triangle
- A descending triangle has a flat floor and falling highs. A triple top has flat highs; where the horizontal line sits is the test.
Last reviewed . Structure and grading for the Triple Top are reviewed against the scanner's own rules.