Where the Gartley pattern comes from, and the “222” name

H. M. Gartley described the pattern in his 1935 book Profits in the Stock Market. It appears on page 222, which is why traders still call it the Gartley 222. Gartley presented the zigzag as a pullback that offered a buying opportunity; the book did not specify the Fibonacci ratios used today.

Those ratios came decades later. Larry Pesavento applied Fibonacci ratios to Gartley’s pattern in the 1990s, notably in Fibonacci Ratios with Pattern Recognition (1997). Scott Carney, who coined the term harmonic trading, assigned the specific 0.618 retracement at B and 0.786 retracement at D in The Harmonic Trader (copyright 1998), and his version is what most traders now call the ideal Gartley.

Other authors use slightly different numbers. TradingView’s help page, for example, gives a narrower range for C. Treat the rules below as one widely used convention, not a law of the market. For the family as a whole, start with the harmonic patterns overview.

Gartley pattern rules: the Fibonacci ratios

The pattern has four legs: XA, AB, BC and CD. In a bullish Gartley, X is a low, A a high, B a higher low, C a lower high and D the final low, above X. The drawing at the top of this page labels each dashed connector with its ratio, the way TradingView’s drawing tool does. The commonly published rules, mostly from Carney’s work:

  • B retraces 0.618 of XA. This is the defining ratio: a B near 0.382–0.50 points to a Bat, and a B near 0.786 points to a Butterfly.
  • C retraces 0.382–0.886 of AB (TradingView’s help page uses 0.618–0.786).
  • D completes at 0.786 of XA. Price may poke slightly past 0.786, but it must not trade beyond X.
  • CD projects 1.272–1.618 of BC.
  • An AB=CD sits inside the pattern, with CD close to AB, ideally completing near the 0.786 level. The AB=CD guide covers that inner structure.

How to build the Gartley PRZ

The PRZ is the band where independent measurements of D cluster. For a Gartley, collect three: the 0.786 retracement of XA, the AB=CD completion and the 1.272–1.618 projection of BC. The tighter they cluster, the clearer the zone; if they spread over a wide range, the pattern is weak or not a Gartley at all.

Using the hypothetical pattern from the top drawing (X 100.00, A 120.00, B 107.64, C 117.36): XA is 20.00, AB is 12.36 and BC is 9.72.

  • 0.786 XA: 120.00 − 0.786 × 20.00 = 120.00 − 15.72 = 104.28.
  • AB=CD: 117.36 − 12.36 = 105.00.
  • 1.272 BC: 117.36 − 1.272 × 9.72 = 117.36 − 12.36 = 105.00.
  • 1.618 BC: 117.36 − 1.618 × 9.72 = 117.36 − 15.73 = 101.63, the outer edge.
  • PRZ: 104.28 to 105.00, where three measurements agree. X at 100.00 is the line a Gartley must not cross.

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A price ladder for the hypothetical Gartley: 1.272 BC and AB=CD both at 105.00, 0.786 XA at 104.28 and the yellow PRZ between them, 1.618 BC lower at 101.63 as the outer edge, X at 100.00 and the stop just below at 99.70. The CD leg falls into the band from the left.

Gartley validation checklist

Before you plan a trade, run the pattern through a checklist. Measure on completed swings, write the numbers down and accept only small tolerances: if you have to stretch two rules to make it fit, it is not a Gartley. The card below checks the hypothetical pattern row by row.

  1. XA is a clear, completed swing on your timeframe.
  2. B ÷ XA ≈ 0.618 (here 12.36 ÷ 20.00 = 0.618).
  3. C ÷ AB is between 0.382 and 0.886 (here 9.72 ÷ 12.36 = 0.786).
  4. The PRZ contains the 0.786 XA level and an AB=CD (here 104.28 and 105.00).
  5. CD ÷ BC is between 1.272 and 1.618 at D (here 13.08 ÷ 9.72 = 1.35).
  6. Price has not traded beyond X.
  7. The zone sits at a level that matters on a higher timeframe, such as old support.

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A checklist card for the hypothetical Gartley, with the rule, the value needed and this example’s value: B ÷ XA 0.618 (needed 0.618), C ÷ AB 0.786 (0.382–0.886), D ÷ XA 0.786 (0.786), CD ÷ BC 1.35 (1.272–1.618), CD ÷ AB 1.06 (about 1.0) and D above X (104.28 against 100.00), each row ticked green.

Worked example: a bullish Gartley trade, step by step

The same hypothetical pattern on a 1-hour chart, with the plan written before price reaches the zone. Confirmation comes first: wait for a candle to close back out of the PRZ, such as a hammer or a bullish engulfing candle from the candlestick patterns guide. UpTickFlow, our invite-only TradingView indicator, shows rare A+ setups at key levels with an entry, stop and target on 5-minute to 1-hour charts, so it can serve as a separate check when a PRZ meets a key level.

As the numbers show, a stop beyond X is wide: the first target pays only about 1R. If that is not enough for your plan, skip the trade rather than squeezing the stop into the noise of the zone. The risk-reward ratio guide explains why that minimum matters.

  1. Plan: PRZ 104.28–105.00, invalidation below X at 100.00.
  2. Price falls into the zone, prints a low of 104.20, and a 1-hour candle closes back up at 104.90 with a long lower wick. Entry: 104.90.
  3. Stop just beyond X with a small buffer: 99.70. Risk: 104.90 − 99.70 = 5.20 per share.
  4. Targets on the AD leg, measured from the actual low: AD = 120.00 − 104.20 = 15.80. Target 1 = 104.20 + 0.382 × 15.80 = 110.24. Target 2 = 104.20 + 0.618 × 15.80 = 113.96.
  5. Reward: target 1 pays 5.34 (about 1.0R) and target 2 pays 9.06 (about 1.7R).
  6. Size: risking 1% of a $25,000 account is $250, and $250 ÷ 5.20 = 48 shares. The position size calculator does this for you.

Worked example: a bearish Gartley

The bearish Gartley is the mirror image: X is a high, A a low, B a lower high, C a higher low and D a final high, below X. The trade idea is a short, or taking profit on a long. Selling short carries its own risks, including gaps and borrowing costs; see short selling.

  1. X at 50.00 and A at 40.00: XA = 10.00.
  2. B at 46.18: AB = 6.18, which is 0.618 of XA.
  3. C at 42.36: BC = 3.82, which is 0.618 of AB.
  4. PRZ: 0.786 XA = 40.00 + 7.86 = 47.86; AB=CD = 42.36 + 6.18 = 48.54; 1.618 BC = 42.36 + 6.18 = 48.54. Zone 47.86–48.54, with X at 50.00 as the line it must not cross.
  5. Price rallies to 48.10, and a 1-hour candle closes back down at 47.60. Short entry at 47.60, stop above X at 50.30: risk 2.70 per share.
  6. AD = 48.10 − 40.00 = 8.10. Target 1 = 48.10 − 0.382 × 8.10 = 45.01 (about 1.0R). Target 2 = 48.10 − 0.618 × 8.10 = 43.09 (about 1.7R).

How to draw a Gartley with TradingView’s XABCD Pattern tool

TradingView’s XABCD Pattern tool is in the Patterns group of the drawing toolbar on the left of the chart. You place all five points yourself; the tool does not scan for patterns. Its help page notes that the BC retracement is shown along the line A–C and the CD extension along the line B–D, and the drawing labels its dashed connectors with ratios, as in the picture below.

  1. Open the Patterns group and select XABCD Pattern.
  2. Click X, A, B and C on completed swing points, in that order. In a bullish Gartley, X, B and D are lows and A and C are highs.
  3. Click D at the projected PRZ. When the real turn forms, drag D to it, or set each point exactly by bar and price in the Coordinates tab.
  4. Read the ratio labels on the dashed lines and compare them with the rules. Confirm B and D against XA with the Fib Retracement tool drawn from X to A.
  5. Add horizontal lines for the PRZ edges, X and your stop, and set an alert at the top of the zone so you don’t have to watch the screen; see TradingView alerts.
  6. Lock the drawing once the pattern is planned. Dragging points afterward to fit the reversal is the classic hindsight error.

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A TradingView-style screen: the Patterns group open on the left toolbar with XABCD Pattern selected, a bullish Gartley drawn with five numbered clicks at X, A, B, C and D, and dashed connectors labeled 0.618, 0.786, 1.35 and 0.786.

Common Gartley mistakes, and when the pattern fails

A Gartley fails when price trades through the PRZ and beyond X; at that point the pattern no longer exists, and your stop should already be there. Failures are part of trading any pattern. These mistakes, though, are avoidable:

  • Calling a pattern a Gartley when B is at 0.50 or 0.786. B decides the pattern; get it wrong and every target and stop is wrong too.
  • Buying the 0.786 level with a resting order and no confirmation candle.
  • Placing the stop at D instead of beyond X, so normal noise in the PRZ takes you out of a pattern that is still valid.
  • Moving X or A after the fact to make the ratios fit.
  • Ignoring the higher-timeframe trend: a bullish Gartley against a strong weekly downtrend is a low-quality bet. See multi-timeframe analysis.
  • Skipping the reward math: with a stop beyond X, the first target may pay only about 1R.
  • Trusting published success rates. Results depend on who picked the pivots and the tolerances, so test your own rules and track them in a trading journal.

Gartley vs Bat: how to tell them apart

Both complete inside X and both put the stop beyond X, so they are easy to confuse. The difference is depth. A Gartley has B at 0.618 and D at 0.786 of XA. A Bat has a shallower B (0.382–0.50) and a deeper D (0.886), with a larger BC projection (1.618–2.618) and a CD leg usually extended to 1.27 times AB.

If B lands at 0.618 but price runs on to 0.886, you do not have a clean version of either pattern: skip it or wait for more structure. For patterns that complete beyond X, see the Butterfly and the Crab; for confirming any PRZ and managing the trade, see the PRZ trading guide.