What it draws
A classical reversal pattern tool that maps a left shoulder, a higher head, a right shoulder and the neckline connecting the intervening troughs. A break of the neckline is the traditional trigger, with the head-to-neckline height projected as the measured move.
How to draw it
- Pick Head and Shoulders from the left toolbar (Patterns group).
- Seven anchor points placed in sequence along the structure: the start of the pattern, the left shoulder peak, the trough after it, the head, the next trough, the right shoulder peak, and the end point. The chart connects the points and shades the pattern with its neckline.
How traders use it
- Wait for a decisive close through the neckline before treating the pattern as triggered, ideally on rising volume.
- Project the vertical distance from the head to the neckline downward (or upward for an inverse pattern) from the breakout point as a price objective.
- Use a retest of the broken neckline as a lower-risk second entry.
- A right shoulder on noticeably lighter volume than the left strengthens the reversal case.
Settings reference
Double-click the drawing (or use its floating toolbar → gear) to open settings:
| Setting | Control | Possible values | Default | Effect |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Color | color | any color (theme color picker) | #05B878 | Main stroke color of the drawing — lines, outlines and (unless overridden) labels derive from it. |
| Line Width | select | 1px | 2px | 3px | 4px | 2px | Stroke thickness of the drawing’s lines and outlines. |
| Line Style | select | Solid | Dashed | Dotted | Solid | Dash pattern used for the drawing’s lines. |
| [Tab] Text — Text | checkbox + textarea | on/off, with a multiline text box for the label content | off (on when the drawing already carries text) | Enables an attached text label on the drawing; typing in the box auto-enables it and updates the label live. |
| [Tab] Text — Text Color | color | any color | same as the drawing’s line color | Color of the attached text label. |
| [Tab] Text — Font Size | select | 8, 10, 11, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 24, 28, 32, 36, 48, 64, 72 | 14 | Point size of the attached label text. |
| [Tab] Text — Bold | checkbox | on/off (B toggle button) | off | Renders the label in bold. |
| [Tab] Text — Italic | checkbox | on/off (I toggle button) | off | Renders the label in italics. |
| [Tab] Text — Word Wrap | checkbox | on/off | off | Wraps long label text onto multiple lines instead of one long line. |
| [Tab] Text — Text alignment (vertical) | select | Top | Middle | Bottom | Top | Vertical placement of the label relative to the drawing. |
| [Tab] Text — Text alignment (horizontal) | select | Left | Center | Right | Center | Horizontal placement of the label relative to the drawing. |
| [Tab] Coordinates | number + datetime | one row per anchor point: price (number, step 0.05) and local date/time | the drawing’s current anchor values | Edits anchor geometry numerically — changing a point’s price or time moves the drawing live on the chart. |
| [Tab] Visibility | checkbox + number range | interval buckets: Ticks; Seconds 1–59; Minutes 1–59; Hours 1–24; Days 1–366; Weeks 1–52; Months 1–12; Ranges (each bucket has an on/off checkbox, most also a from–to range) | visible on all intervals | Per-timeframe visibility rules — untick a bucket to hide the drawing on those chart resolutions, or narrow the from–to range within a bucket. |
Editing & managing
- Move / adjust: drag the drawing or any anchor handle; magnet mode snaps points to OHLC values.
- Clone / lock / hide / delete from the floating toolbar or right-click menu.
- Templates: save the current style from the settings dialog and reapply it to new drawings.
- Every action is undoable (⌘Z / Ctrl+Z).
Watch out for
- Sloped or ambiguous necklines invite subjective anchoring; small intraday formations fail far more often than well-formed patterns after an extended trend.