Concept
Andrews' Pitchfork
Andrews' Pitchfork, also known as Schiff, modified Schiff, median line, warning lines, is a Trend concept. The Library holds 1 implementations, each one a working definition you can pull into Quant.
Top Andrews' Pitchfork indicators
1 total
What is Andrews' Pitchfork?
Andrews' Pitchfork is a three-point channel tool built around a median line. From a pivot A at the start of a move and the next swing high and low B and C, the median line runs from A through the midpoint of B-C; two parallels drawn through B and C complete the fork. Alan Andrews' method treats the median line as the trend's center of gravity: price is expected to gravitate back toward it, while the outer tines act like the walls of a parallel channel.
That expectation is a tendency, not a rule. Plenty of trends never return to the median line, and in Andrews' own teaching (the Hagopian rule) a reversal before reaching it warns that the move in the other direction may travel further than normal. Variants reposition the anchor to handle steep moves: the Schiff pitchfork shifts A halfway toward B in price, and the modified Schiff shifts it to the midpoint of A-B in both price and time. Warning lines are extra parallels spaced beyond the tines to track price that escapes the fork.
How to draw Andrews' Pitchfork
The fork is only as good as the pivots that anchor it, so start from clean, alternating swing points.
- 1Pick pivot A at the origin of the move you want to frame: a significant swing low for an uptrend, or swing high for a downtrend.
- 2Pick pivots B and C: after a low at A, B is the next swing high and C the following swing low; after a high at A, B is the next swing low and C the following swing high. A, B and C must alternate.
- 3Draw the median line from A through the midpoint of segment B-C, then add parallels through B and C to form the tines.
- 4If price immediately leaves the fork, the anchors are probably wrong: reselect pivots or switch to a Schiff or modified Schiff variant, which flatten the fork for steep moves.
How traders use it
- Trading rotations toward the median line: entries near a tine with the median line as the working objective, on the logic that trends oscillate around their center.
- Reading trend health: repeated failures to reach the median line signal a weakening trend, and a decisive break outside a tine that holds on retest suggests the trend is changing character or accelerating.
- Extending with warning lines when price runs beyond the fork, keeping the original slope as the frame of reference.
Related concepts · Channels, lines & geometry
Concept family
Trend
100 concepts mapped · 88 in the Library
Andrews' Pitchfork FAQ
Which three points do you use for Andrews' Pitchfork?
Three alternating pivots. A sits at the start of the move (a major swing low in an uptrend), B is the next swing high, and C the following swing low; in a downtrend the order mirrors. The median line runs from A through the middle of B-C. Different pivot choices produce very different forks, which is why practitioners redraw with Schiff variants when the standard fork will not contain price.
Does price always return to the median line?
No. Andrews taught that price tends to return to the median line, and his rules treat the exception as information: when price reverses before reaching it, the move away is often expected to travel further than normal. Treat the median line as a scenario target that needs confirmation, not a certainty, and reassess the fork's pivots when price ignores it entirely.
Build Andrews' Pitchfork your way.
Quant writes, tests, and refines it with you — then it runs on LuxAlgo charting or ports to TradingView.