What it draws
A reversal pattern built from three successive, symmetric price thrusts (drives) in the same direction, each separated by a corrective pullback. Exhaustion is implied when the third drive completes at an extension of the prior legs.
How to draw it
- Pick Three Drives Pattern from the left toolbar (Patterns group).
- Anchor points are placed in order along the alternating swings: the start, then each drive peak and each corrective trough in sequence (six to seven clicks depending on the variant), finishing at the third drive's extreme. The chart connects and labels the drives.
How traders use it
- Check that each pullback retraces about 0.618 of the prior drive and each new drive extends roughly 1.27-1.618 of the correction — symmetry is the pattern's core requirement.
- Fade the completion of the third drive with a stop beyond its extreme.
- Look for momentum divergence across the three drive peaks (or troughs) as confirmation of exhaustion.
- Similar time spacing between the drives strengthens the signal; badly uneven drives weaken it.
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
- In a strong trend, price can keep printing drives well past the third — treat the pattern as an exhaustion hypothesis, not a standalone entry.