On-neck / In-neck / Thrusting

On-neck / In-neck / Thrusting classifies the failed rallies of a downtrend by exactly how far they reach. After a long dark candle below the trend average, a white candle opening lower and stalling beneath the body midpoint is graded into one of the three on-neck, in-neck and thrusting lines and labeled with its recovery depth — 0% at the prior close, 50% at the midpoint. Each detection can be tracked live: a trigger level at the pattern low and an invalidation level at the second candle's high extend until one side resolves.

How to Trade the On-neck / In-neck / Thrusting?

• Label printed: dip buying reached a specific, measured depth and failed — classical bearish continuation evidence, most telling when labels repeat down a trend.
• Confirmed: a break below the pattern low resolves the formation in the trend's favor — marker and alert on the bar that does it.
• Invalidated: a push above the second candle's high shows the rally was soaking up supply rather than failing; the trigger level fades to neutral and an alert fires.

On-neck / In-neck / Thrusting Settings

• Downtrend SMA Length (default 50): the first candle must close below this average — no decline, no pattern.
• Body Average Length (default 20) and Long Body Multiplier (default 1.2): the long-dark-candle filter; 0 disables the length test.
• Open Requirement (default Below prior close (relaxed)): the strict Japanese form demands a gap under the prior candle's low, rare where trading is continuous.
• Tolerance % (default 5): band width around the neck boundaries, in percent of the first body.
• Merge Variants (default off) and the On-Neck / In-Neck / Thrusting toggles (all on): classify separately or as one Weak Line signal colored by depth.
• Track Confirmation & Invalidation (on) with Tracking Limit (bars) (default 100), plus display options.

Frequently Asked Questions

When does the pattern become a piercing line?

A close beyond the first body's midpoint upgrades the formation to a Piercing Line — a bullish reversal, not a weak line. The dashed midpoint drawn at each detection marks that boundary.

Why is the relaxed open the default?

The strict form assumes gapping markets where the second candle gaps under the prior low — rare where trading is continuous, so the relaxed open below the prior close keeps the patterns observable, giving up part of the failed-rally logic.

What does the Tolerance % change?

The variant boundaries span only a few ticks in liquid markets, so this band decides where borderline closes land: wider admits more on-neck and in-neck labels, tighter pushes marginal cases into thrusting.