डबल बॉटम पैटर्न
A double bottom is a bullish reversal pattern where price makes a low, rallies to a peak, falls back to roughly the same low, and then breaks out above that peak — confirming buyers have twice defended the same level.
By Rohit Singh (Mr. Chartist) · Updated 2026-08-25
A double bottom is the market failing, twice, to push a stock any lower. Price falls to a level, buyers absorb the selling, price rallies away. Some time later sellers try the same level again and get the same answer. That second rejection is the whole pattern: the first low could be luck, the second is evidence that supply has been exhausted at that price.
The level joining the two lows is the base. The peak between them is the neckline, and it is the only line that matters for a trade — the pattern is not complete, and is not tradeable, until price closes above that neckline. Everything before the breakout is a stock in a downtrend that has stopped falling, which is not the same thing as a stock going up.
It is one of the most reliable reversal structures on Indian charts because it is slow. A double bottom that takes seven months to build has absorbed seven months of selling. That is why the duration matters as much as the shape, and why the pattern is read on daily and weekly charts rather than intraday.
Measure the depth of the pattern — from the level of the two lows up to the neckline — and project that same distance upward from the neckline. That is the measured move, and it is the pattern's own first target, not a price forecast.
Alkem Laboratories, published in ChartBook 280: the base sat near ₹4,500 and the neckline near ₹5,391, giving a depth of roughly ₹890. Projected up from the ₹5,391 neckline, that lands the measured move in the ₹6,100–₹6,300 region — which is exactly the target zone the edition published.
The first low tells you only that price stopped falling at a particular level once. That happens constantly and for reasons that have nothing to do with demand — a large buyer filling an order, short covering, a round number attracting attention for a session.
The second low is the test. Sellers return to the same price with the memory of the first bounce, and if the level holds again — particularly on lighter volume — the market has demonstrated that supply at that price is finished. That is a structural statement about who owns the stock, not a coincidence.
This is also why a double bottom that forms over months is worth more than one that forms over weeks. The longer the gap between the two tests, the more independent the second test is from the first, and the more selling has had to be absorbed in between.
The breakout candle is usually the worst entry available. It is the point of maximum enthusiasm, the stop sits furthest away, and the risk-to-reward on the measured move is at its least attractive.
The neckline retest is the alternative. After breaking out, price frequently returns to the neckline — the level that was resistance for the whole life of the pattern — and holds it as support. Entering on that retest puts the stop just below a level the market has now defended, which is a materially tighter risk than entering at the high of the breakout candle.
Alkem in ChartBook 280 was published with exactly this structure: a primary entry on a close above ₹5,600, and an alternate entry at ₹5,400–₹5,420 if price retested the neckline, with the stop tightened to below ₹5,300. Two entries, two different risk profiles, both stated in advance.
The retest does not always come. That is the trade-off — a tighter entry that sometimes never triggers, versus a breakout entry that always triggers at a worse price.
Each setup below was published in a ChartBook edition on the date shown, at the price it was marked at — entry, stop and target exactly as they went out. Nothing here is back-fitted, and the edition each came from is linked so you can check it.
ALKEM · Daily chart · 7 months to form
Bottomed near ₹4,500 in March 2025, retested the same area in June, then reversed. The neckline broke near ₹5,391 in early September, shifting the stock from accumulation into breakout mode with follow-through above the neckline.
NATPLAST · Daily chart · 7 months to form
Fresh breakout from a reversal base, with ₹300 acting as the breakout zone and immediate retest support.
MONTECARLO · Daily chart · 2 years to form
A double bottom formed inside a three-year rectangle base, with the falling channel breached and ₹640–₹650 becoming the breakout zone and immediate support.
A rounding bottom has no distinct second low — it is one continuous, curved base with no clear peak in the middle. A double bottom has two identifiable lows separated by a rally.
The same structure inverted. A double top forms after an uptrend, makes two highs at the same level, and confirms on a break BELOW the trough between them. It is a bearish reversal.
A rectangle has multiple touches of both its floor and its ceiling. A double bottom touches its low exactly twice and does not need repeated tests of the neckline before breaking out.
Screeners cannot see the shape, only its consequences — so scan for the conditions a completed double bottom produces rather than for the pattern itself: price crossing above a 3-to-6-month high, on volume above its recent average, in a stock still below its 52-week high. That returns a candidate list; the two lows and the neckline still have to be confirmed by eye on the chart.
Reliability rises with the time the pattern took to build and with the volume on the breakout — a multi-month base breaking out on expanding volume is a materially different proposition from a three-week one breaking out quietly. Published win-rate percentages for chart patterns circulate widely online but almost none disclose their sample, market or timeframe, so no figure is quoted here. Judge the individual structure, not an averaged statistic.
A daily close above the neckline — the peak between the two lows — on volume above the recent average. Until that close happens the pattern is incomplete, and a stock that has merely stopped falling is not the same as a stock that has reversed.
Bullish. It is a reversal pattern that forms at the end of a downtrend and signals that buyers have twice defended the same level. Its bearish mirror image is the double top.
No. Lows within roughly 3% of each other are normal. A marginally lower second low is acceptable — and sometimes stronger — if price recovers from it immediately, because it can flush out stops before the reversal.
Measure from the level of the two lows up to the neckline, then project that same distance above the neckline. In ChartBook 280, Alkem's base near ₹4,500 and neckline near ₹5,391 gave a depth of about ₹890, projecting a measured move into ₹6,100–₹6,300.
They are the same thing. 'W pattern' is an informal name for the double bottom, describing the shape the two lows and the intervening peak trace on the chart.
Weeks to months on a daily chart. Two lows only a few candles apart are noise. The three examples published in ChartBook 280 took seven months, seven months and two years respectively.
Its reliability depends on the individual structure — how long the base took, whether the second low came on lighter volume, and whether the breakout carried volume expansion — far more than on any averaged statistic. Widely circulated win-rate figures rarely disclose their sample, market or timeframe, so they should not be relied on.
Written By
Mr. Chartist
With 14+ years of experience in Indian financial markets, Rohit Singh (Mr. Chartist) is a SEBI Registered Research Analyst, Amazon #1 bestselling author, and the founder of Investology — a premium trading ecosystem trusted by a 1.5 Lakh+ strong community across India.
Educational content only. This page explains a chart pattern and cites setups previously published in the Weekend ChartBook; it is not investment advice and not a recommendation to buy or sell any security. Registration granted by SEBI, membership of BASL and certification from NISM in no way guarantee performance or assure returns. Markets carry risk — read all related documents carefully before investing.