BLOW-OFF TOP

By Daryl Guppy

The blow-off top is a buying climax. It develops as the end of a prolonged uptrend. It signals a change in the nature of the trend and shows a buying frenzy. It has three features.
The first is a dramatic increase in volume. This is a clear and unambiguous volume spike
The second is a dramatic increase in price. This is a bubble in price. The price activity near the volume spike is fast, and rises well above the previous trend behaviour. It may also include a substantial increase in the intraday volatility of price.
The third is the failure to hold the highs of the day. The blow-off top gaps above the previous days close, and may even rise higher in the first hour of trading. However the rise is defeated with steady selling. The close is well below the open and the close is near the low of the day. Often the range of the price bar is significantly larger than any preceding days.
The fast rise and its failure, shows that buyers have disappeared from the market. Sellers have to offer at lower and lower prices to achieve an exit. The close near the low of the day confirms buying and momentum exhaustion. The surge in volume is created by sellers as they become desperate to get out of the stock. The volumes urge does not come from buyers.