The Elliott wave double top or bottom pattern is the flat corrective wave with the structure (3, 3, 5). Do not panic yet if you are not familiar with the wave structures.One can learn those at 24Elliottwaves.com. An Elliott wave trader ought to master how the ordinary chart pattern traders trade both the double top and bottom patterns. Believe it or not, only few Elliott wave traders do grasp the similarities between the flat and double top patterns. That lacking can make them miss out or fail to interpret complex double top patterns.
At the same time, ordinary traders who refuse to learn the wave patterns are paying a heavy price because of the different types of flat corrective waves that they are not able to decipher.
Indeed, there are running flat correction, classic and expanded flat corrective wave. All those are Elliott wave double top and bottom patterns.
Have I heard anyone saying: "I wish I knew that before?" Well, I can read your minds. Alright that is a joke by the way.
I said the same thing, the first time I come across the different types of flat corrective waves or double tops.
You will be surprised by the number of people who have been trading chart patterns for years, but yet refuse to go the next level.
Everyone sees that it is a double top; and most chart pattern technical traders can set the price target, but only the Elliott wave traders can predict how the price will move (price structures). In fact they can understand the whole double top episode like a producer.
The first top is the terminal point of the first retracement of the fifth wave. I mean the A minor wave of the flat correction. The second top is the peak of the B minor wave (second retracement of the 5th wave). The C minor wave that is internally subdivided into five minor waves itself is the "impulse wave" of the flat correction and it pierces through the neckline of the double top chart pattern to reach the price target.
Now that is theory. One that understands the theory is also able to forecast the future price structures. I hope one can now realise why I say that the Elliott wave traders have a better understanding of what is happening during the formation of the double top. Whether it is a double top or bottom chart pattern, the Elliott wave theory will guide one to determine what types of pattern one is dealing with. Remember that there are a running, classic and expanded flat corrective patterns.