Fractiz
Pattern Detail
Bearish After Top Gap Down
Five-candle bearish reversal: three rising up candles, the third gapping up, then two down candles with a gap down that breaks the trend.
Shown only on the markets where this pattern occurs.
This pattern did not fire often enough on this market and timeframe to measure. Try a lower timeframe or a more active instrument.
This pattern did not fire often enough on this market and timeframe to measure. Try a lower timeframe or a more active instrument.
This pattern did not fire often enough on this market and timeframe to measure. Try a lower timeframe or a more active instrument.
This pattern did not fire often enough on this market and timeframe to measure. Try a lower timeframe or a more active instrument.
This pattern did not fire often enough on this market and timeframe to measure. Try a lower timeframe or a more active instrument.
This pattern did not fire often enough on this market and timeframe to measure. Try a lower timeframe or a more active instrument.
i
How to read this
Everything here is in R, the setup's own risk. 1R is the distance from the entry (the pattern's closing price) to where it would be proven wrong — its highest high over the 5 bars that form it. So "offered 2R" means price ran twice that distance in your favor at some point before the stop. It does not assume you took profit there: a target is a strategy choice.
Room offered (≥ 1R)
0.0%
Too few to trust
Offered at least 1× its risk before the stop, vs 37.6% for a random short entry (-37.6 pts).
Move size vs normal
1.23×
Realized range over the next 20 bars vs a random bar. Precedes a bigger move.
Typical room (20-bar)
0.29R
Average run in favor (capped at 3R), vs 1.00R for a random short entry.
Summary
Offered ≥1R 0.0% of the time vs 37.6% for a random short entry. The 37.6-point gap is no bigger than the ±94.9-point margin of error you would get by chance from 1 occurrences. Not a reliable edge.
Room offered, this setup vs a random short entry
Only 1 occurrences. The breakdown below is shown in full, but a sample this small is anecdotal, a hint, not a measured edge. That is usually a limit of available history, not a flaw in the pattern. For a firmer read, try a lower timeframe or a more active instrument.
| Outcome | This setup | Random entry | Edge |
|---|---|---|---|
| Offered ≥ 1R | 0.0% | 37.6% | -37.6 |
| Offered ≥ 2R | 0.0% | 24.9% | -24.9 |
| Offered ≥ 3R | 0.0% | 17.7% | -17.7 |
| Stopped < 1R | 100.0% | 60.1% | +39.9 |
| Went sideways | 0.0% | 2.3% | -2.3 |
1 occurrences · 4,682 random-entry controls · 20-bar horizon
This pattern did not fire often enough on this market and timeframe to measure. Try a lower timeframe or a more active instrument.
This pattern did not fire often enough on this market and timeframe to measure. Try a lower timeframe or a more active instrument.
This pattern did not fire often enough on this market and timeframe to measure. Try a lower timeframe or a more active instrument.
This pattern did not fire often enough on this market and timeframe to measure. Try a lower timeframe or a more active instrument.
This pattern did not fire often enough on this market and timeframe to measure. Try a lower timeframe or a more active instrument.
This pattern did not fire often enough on this market and timeframe to measure. Try a lower timeframe or a more active instrument.
This pattern did not fire often enough on this market and timeframe to measure. Try a lower timeframe or a more active instrument.
An after top gap down is a rally that gaps up to a peak and then falls away. Three up candles climb in a row, with the third gapping above the second to reach a high. Then a down candle appears, and a long down candle gaps below it. The advance pushes to one last gapped-up top, fails there, and breaks lower with a gap of its own.
How to spot it
- The market is rising into the pattern.
- The first three candles are up (green) candles, each closing higher than the last.
- The first two are long candles that carry the advance.
- The third candle gaps up above the second, reaching the peak.
- The fourth candle is a down (red) candle.
- The fifth candle is a long down candle that gaps down below the fourth, breaking the trend.
The psychology
The first three candles are buyers in command. Two long up bars carry the advance, and then the third gaps above the second to reach a fresh high. That gap up is the rally at its most confident, the point where demand looks strongest and the move looks ready to run. It is also, as it turns out, the top.
From there control changes hands. A down candle appears where another up bar should have followed, the first crack in the climb. Then a long down candle gaps below it, slicing lower with a gap of its own, the mirror of the gap that made the high. Traders read the whole shape as a final stretch that failed: buyers pushed to one last gapped-up peak, found no follow-through, and sellers answered with a forceful break in the opposite direction. The advance did not just stall, it gave way, and the gap down shows sellers willing to chase price lower the way buyers had been chasing it higher.
A trend that breaks with a gap looks decisive, and the figures below test whether the break tends to carry.
Does it actually work?
A pattern is a setup, not a trade, so the honest question is not “did it win” but “how much room did it tend to offer before it was proven wrong.” The tabs below answer that across five futures markets (Nasdaq, S&P 500, gold, crude oil, natural gas) and seven timeframes from one minute to one day.
For each occurrence we measure the room the move offered in units of the pattern’s own risk, then set it against what a random entry on the same market would have done. When the pattern offers more room more often than chance, that shows up as a real edge. When it does not, the page says so plainly.
Read it with the sample size in view. On the faster timeframes a pattern can fire thousands of times, enough to trust. On the daily chart it is far rarer, so treat those numbers as a hint rather than a verdict. Thin samples are flagged for you on the page.
How we measured it
- Entry is the close of the final candle of the pattern.
- One unit of risk, 1R, is the distance from that close up to the pattern’s invalidation point: the highest high of the 5 candles that form it. If price trades through there, the setup is wrong.
- We then follow the next 20 bars and record how far price ran in your favor, in multiples of that risk, before the stop was hit.
- Every figure is set against a random entry on the same market and timeframe, so the market’s own drift is accounted for.
- No profit target and no position sizing. Where you take profit is a strategy choice; this measures only the room the pattern tends to give.
What this page does not cover
- Volume on the pattern’s candles.
- Whether the pattern forms at a meaningful resistance level.
- Pairing it with a trend filter or a confirming signal.
- A profit target or position sizing. We use the pattern’s own invalidation point as the stop to define risk, but where you take profit, and how much you put on, are strategy decisions this page leaves to you.
Sample Bearish After Top Gap Down Firings (1)
Based on data through Apr 29, 2026
| Date | Risk (pts) | Room offered | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 27, 2008 | 55.5 | 0.29R | Stopped |