Learn Point & Figure charting

Everything you need to read a P&F chart with confidence, from your first X to the patterns professionals watch for. Start at the top, or jump to any pattern.

Start with the basics

A Triple Top buy signal: the most watched pattern in P&F.

Getting started

What is Point & Figure charting? A charting method that records only meaningful price changes and ignores time. The history of Point & Figure From hand-written figure charts in the 1890s to live charts today. Reading X's and O's What each column means and the few rules every chart follows. Box size How much price movement one box represents, and how to choose it. The reversal amount Why the 3-box reversal is the standard, and what changes with 1 or 2 boxes. Plotting a chart, step by step The high-low and closing-price methods, with a worked example. Time on a P&F chart There's no time axis, but month markers keep you oriented.

Buy and sell signals

Double Top and Double Bottom The simplest signals: price breaks past the previous column. Triple Top and Triple Bottom A level tested twice and broken on the third try. Quadruple Top and Bottom Even more tests of the same level before the break. Ascending Triple Top and Descending Triple Bottom A staircase of consecutive breakouts. Spread Triple Top and Bottom Triple patterns with a shorter column in between. Bullish and Bearish Catapults A triple breakout followed by a double breakout. Bullish and Bearish Triangles Lower tops and higher bottoms that resolve in a breakout. Signal Reversed patterns When a steady trend's first opposing signal matters most. High Poles and Low Poles Sharp columns that give back more than half their move. Long Tail Down A reversal after a very long column of O's. Bull Traps and Bear Traps Breakouts by a single box that quickly fail.

Trends, targets and context

Support and resistance Why P&F makes these levels so easy to see. Trend lines The Bullish Support Line and the Bearish Resistance Line. Price objectives Vertical and horizontal counts for estimating how far a move may go. Relative strength Charting a stock against the market on a P&F chart. Bullish Percent indexes Measuring how many stocks in a group are on buy signals.

Putting it to work

Point & Figure for day-trading Applying the classic rules to a live intraday chart. Managing risk with P&F Using the chart's own structure to place stops. Common mistakes The errors that trip up most new P&F traders. Glossary Every P&F term in this knowledge base, defined in a sentence.

For education only. Nothing here is investment advice or a recommendation to buy or sell any security.