Three Bar Reversal Indicator: Formula, Settings and How to Read It
Three Bar Reversal marks a three-bar sequence where the first two bars build a directional leg and the third bar closes beyond the extreme of the first bar in the pattern. Bullish patterns are marked with an up arrow at the low of the third bar, bearish ones with a down arrow at its high.
Senzoukria · Indicators · Updated September 2026
Three Bar Reversal ships with the Senzoukria desktop app, in the Structure & sessions group of the indicator catalogue. It is drawn on the price chart.
What Three Bar Reversal measures
This is a pattern test, not a value, and it evaluates the leg on extremes rather than on closes: a down leg requires both a lower high and a lower low on the second bar compared with the first. Two falling closes under rising highs are not treated as a selling leg, because the extremes are what the market actually tested. The break reference is the extreme of the first bar of the pattern, so the third bar has to erase the whole leg and not merely the middle bar. Every comparison is strict — a flat leg is not a leg, and a close exactly on the first bar's extreme is not a break — and with fewer than three bars loaded nothing is evaluated.
The formula, as implemented
This is not a description of how the indicator is usually defined elsewhere — it is what the shipped code computes, documented next to the implementation:
Three bar reversal — retournement confirmé sur 3 barres : haussier : jambe BAISSIÈRE sur les 2 premières high[i−1] < high[i−2] ET low[i−1] < low[i−2] puis close[i] > high[i−2] (arrow-up au LOW de la 3ᵉ) baissier : jambe HAUSSIÈRE (high[i−1] > high[i−2] ET low[i−1] > low[i−2]) puis close[i] < low[i−2] (arrow-down au HIGH de la 3ᵉ) La « tendance des 2 premières » est jugée sur les EXTRÊMES (lower high + lower low), pas sur les closes : deux closes descendants avec des highs qui montent ne sont pas une jambe vendeuse, c'est du bruit — l'extrême est ce que le marché a réellement testé. Toutes les inégalités sont STRICTES : une jambe plate n'est pas une jambe, et clôturer PILE sur l'extrême de la 1ʳᵉ barre n'est pas un dépassement. La référence de cassure est l'extrême de la PREMIÈRE barre du motif (i−2) — la 3ᵉ doit effacer toute la jambe, pas seulement la barre du milieu. Moins de 3 barres chargées → rien.
How to read it
- An up arrow under the third bar means a two-bar decline was fully reversed on a closing basis above the high where that decline started; a down arrow is the mirror case.
- The marker only appears once the third bar has closed, so the pattern is confirmed rather than anticipated, and by construction it arrives after the move it describes.
- Count the markers before acting on one: arrows in both directions over a short stretch can describe a range in which bars keep overlapping rather than a series of reversals.
- Read the marker against its location — a prior week level, a value area edge, a session extreme — since the pattern rule itself contains no notion of where the bars sit.
- On tick, volume or range bars the same rule applies, but "three bars" means three of those bars; changing the bar type changes which patterns exist.
What it does not show
The pattern uses open, high, low and close only, so it carries no information about volume, delta or which side was aggressing on the reversal bar. In thin conditions a close beyond the leg can come from very little traded size, and the arrow will look identical to one printed on heavy participation. The rule also produces no target, no stop and no invalidation level — it states that a condition occurred on three bars, nothing more. Because the pattern depends on bar boundaries, the same session cut into different bar sizes will show different markers, and a session sliced one way may show none at all.
Using it in Senzoukria
Add it from the Indicators panel of any footprint chart or candle chart. It runs on futures data from Rithmic or Databento and on crypto pairs from Binance and Bybit, on the same engine — the calculation does not change with the venue, only the data feeding it does. Market data subscriptions are billed by the provider, separately from the app.
Related indicators
- Prior Week High/Low — Structure & sessions
- Engulfing — Structure & sessions
- Pin Bar — Structure & sessions
- Inside Bar — Structure & sessions
- Outside Bar — Structure & sessions
- Doji — Structure & sessions
See the full indicator library, or start with the order flow guide if you are new to reading aggression, delta and absorption.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a three bar reversal pattern?
- It is a three-bar sequence in which the first two bars move together in one direction and the third bar closes past the extreme of the first bar, reversing the whole short leg. In this implementation the direction of the first two bars is judged on their highs and lows — a down leg needs both a lower high and a lower low — while the reversal itself is judged on the third bar's close.
- Does a three bar reversal use closing prices or highs and lows?
- Both, for different parts of the test. The leg formed by the first two bars is judged on extremes, since highs and lows show what price was actually tested. The reversal is judged on the close of the third bar, which must finish beyond the high or low of the first bar in the pattern.
- Why did no arrow print when price clearly reversed?
- All the comparisons are strict, so several near-misses produce nothing. Equal highs or equal lows between the first two bars mean there was no leg; a third bar closing exactly on the first bar's extreme is not counted as a break; and a third bar that only clears the middle bar has not erased the whole leg.