Double Bottoms, Eve & Eve

Core idea

The Eve & Eve double bottom is what most traders mean when they say "double bottom" — two wide, rounded valleys at similar prices, separated by a rounded rally, confirmed when price closes above the highest peak between them. Of the four Adam/Eve combinations, this is the best performer: a 50% average rise in bull markets, ranking 5 of 39 chart patterns (where 1 is best). The breakeven failure rate is 12% — also ranked 13 of 39.

Both bottoms share the same microstructure: many short price spikes, gradual rounded turns, no single panic flush. That symmetry signals a slow grinding accumulation by patient buyers — the kind that produces durable rallies rather than short squeezes that fail.

Why "classic"

Older technical analysis literature describes the double bottom as "two valleys with a 10% rise between them, separated by at least a month." That description fits the Eve & Eve variant almost exactly. The Adam-flavored variants (with V-shaped bottoms) were a later refinement; the original "W-pattern" was always an Eve & Eve.

Why it matters

This is the bullish-reversal pattern Bulkowski recommends most for retail traders. The combination of:

• High average rise (50% in bull markets),
• Low failure rate (12% breakeven),
• Clear entry signal (close above confirmation price),
• Predictable throwback (66% return to breakout in ~12 days),
• Working measure rule (~72% reach the target),

makes it the rare pattern where retail-grade tools — a daily chart, a buy-stop order, a measure-rule target, a stop just below the right bottom — give you a usable expectancy without sophisticated infrastructure.

The topic is also a lesson in not chasing pre-confirmation entries. Bulkowski cites a study showing 48% of twin valleys never confirm. Buying at the second low to "get a better price" is buying a coin flip; waiting for the confirmation close turns the same setup into an 88%-success-rate bullish trade.

Key takeaways

Mental model

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Practical application

Identification

Trading

Example

A regional bank stock falls from $32 to $18 over five months on a rate-cut narrative. In March, price prints a wide rounded turn between $18 and $19.50 over five weeks, then rallies to $24 by mid-May (a 33% rise) on a soft rounded arch. Volume is highest on the left bottom and declines through the rally.

In late May, price falls back to $19.20, prints another wide rounded turn for four weeks between $18.50 and $20, then begins to climb again in mid-July. The bottom-to-bottom variation: ($19.20 - $18.00)/$18 = 6.7%. A little wide but workable.

Confirmation price: $24 (the May peak). You scan historical: no significant tops in the $24-$28 range from the prior year. Clear runway.

In late July, price closes at $24.30. You buy 200 shares at next open ($24.50), stop at $18.20 (just under the lowest bottom). Day 7: price retraces from $26 to $24.10 — the textbook throwback. You hold. Day 12: price closes at $25.50, resumes upward.

Measure rule target: ($24 - $18) + $24 = $30. Hit on day 38. You sell half (100 shares) at $29.80. The remainder rides upward; you trail with a 15% stop. Stopped out four months later at $33.50.

Total: 100 × $5.30 + 100 × $9.00 = $1430 profit on a $4900 cost basis — a 29% trade gain in ~5 months. Below the headline 50% average (because of the trail-stop exit), but a clean execution of a high-quality pattern.

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