The Double top / bottom required gate holds an entry back unless an M or a W has formed in the trade's direction. An M is a double top and a W is a double bottom. You can also ask the gate for more than that.
The two checks
- Has the pattern formed? The gate always asks this.
- Has its neckline broken, and has price come back to it? The gate only asks this when you switch on Wait for a return to the line.
The neckline is the shelf between the two peaks of the pattern. Check two is met when a candle closes through that shelf in the pattern's direction. Then a later candle must come back to within your tolerance of the shelf and still close on the break side.
Why it is a setting
Traders who trade the same double tops can disagree here. One waits for price to come back to the neckline and enters there. Another enters as the neckline breaks and does not wait. Those are different rules with different results, so this is a switch you set. Leave it off and the gate only checks that the pattern has formed.
Settings
- Wait for a return to the line: blank means off. Nothing is filled in for you.
- How close the return must come (ticks): how near price must come back to the broken neckline.
- Entry allowed within (15-minute candles) of the return: how long after the return the entry may still be taken.
- Entry waits (15-minute candles) after the return: a delay, if you want one.
The pattern and its neckline are always measured on 15-minute candles, whatever timeframe the detector beside it uses.
What can go wrong
Check two is stricter than check one, so switching it on means fewer entries, often many fewer. If entries stop entirely, the Everything else tab of Activity will say the pattern condition held them back.
When you ask for the return, the gate finds the neckline itself, however it was told to find the pattern. Nothing is swapped without you knowing.