One two three breakdown event
A sell marker for a 1-2-3 top breaking down; at default inputs it never draws, at any setting.
The indicator tracks a 1-2-3 top on closes, using the highest and lowest closes of the last 100 bars. The setup starts when a close comes within eps (0.3% by default) of the 100-bar high, then waits for a pullback of at least pullback (0.4%) below that high or a close within pullback of the 100-bar low, and holds until a close retests the high. The sell test runs on the bar after the setup is active: the close must be under the 100-bar low, but that low already includes the current close, so the test can never pass.
How to read it
- The chart stays blank at default inputs, and at the presets below, because the presets change only the setup stage.
- A blank chart is not a quiet market: this breakdown test cannot pass on these inputs, whatever the price does.
- The 1-2-3 setup is not drawn, so no line or zone shows where the setup was active.
What it outputs
- 1-2-3 breakdown
- Meant to mark the bar after a 1-2-3 top setup when the close falls under the 100-bar closing low. It never marks with the default inputs, at any value of its parameters.
When it fires
Meant to fire on the bar after a 1-2-3 top setup is active, when the close is under the 100-bar closing low. It never fires with the default inputs, at any parameter value, because that low includes the current close.
Settings
- eps
- How close a close must come to the 100-bar high to start the setup and to retest it (0.003 is 0.3%). Raising it lets looser touches count; lowering it demands closer ones. The chart does not change at any value, because the breakdown test cannot pass.
- pullback
- How far a close must fall below the 100-bar high, or come within this distance of the 100-bar low, before the setup advances (0.004 is 0.4%). Raising it demands a deeper dip; lowering it accepts shallow ones. The chart does not change at any value.
- confirm_days
- Consecutive bars the breakdown test must hold before a marker draws. At 1 it draws on the first bar. Above 1 it draws nothing, because the test never holds even once. Despite the name, it counts bars, not days.
Pitfalls
- Zero markers on a month of SPY one-minute bars, 2026-09-01 to 2026-10-01, all 20160 bars, at default settings. The cause is structural: the 100-bar low includes the current close, so the close is never below it.
- Changing eps, pullback or confirm_days cannot create markers, because the breakdown test has no margin or offset. Only rewiring mins_stream to a low that excludes the current close would let it fire.
- The name suggests a classic 1-2-3 top, but this is a high, a pullback, and a retest of that high on 100-bar closes; the sell test is not a neckline break.