Three Inside Down Pattern: The Candles at Airbnb's February 2025 Top and Apple's March 2022 High

On February 19, 2025, the day the S&P 500 set a record close, Airbnb completed a three inside down at its highest price since May 2024. Sold at that close with a stop above its high, the trade risked 3.8%. By April 8 the stock was down 33.1%.

On March 31, 2022, two sessions after the last gain of its longest winning streak since 2003, Apple completed one at a prior high. The risk was 2.9%. By June 16, 2022 the stock was down 25.5%.

Airbnb stayed under its pattern's high for 368 sessions and Apple for 293. Here is how to read a three inside down, where the stop goes, and how to find the next one.

What the fall cost#

A three inside down is a sell signal for holders and an entry for short sellers.

Prices are split-adjusted, as on the chart.

The three inside down in one table#

A three inside down is three daily candles: a long green day, a small day whose body sits inside the green body, then a red day that closes below where the green day opened. The first two days are a bearish harami: the buying stalls. The third day confirms it: sellers take back the whole green day.

These are the rules the VCP Scanner terminal uses to name a three inside down on a daily chart.

Day 2's colour doesn't matter, and a doji there makes the first two days a harami cross. Airbnb's and Apple's day 2 were both small red days.

The position rule matters most. A three inside down comes after a rally. The same three bars upside down after a decline are a three inside up, and read bullish.

Three inside down and its look-alikes#

The three outside down is the same idea with a stronger second day: day 2's body covers day 1's, a bearish engulfing, instead of sitting inside it, and day 3 closes lower still. The evening star puts its small middle day above day 1's close instead of inside its body.

Example 1: Airbnb (ABNB) on the S&P 500's record day, Feb 14-19, 2025#

Open ABNB in the VCP Scanner terminal →

Day 1 was the session after Airbnb's fourth-quarter report. The stock opened 12.2% higher and closed up 14.4%, its best day on record. Day 3 was Wednesday, Feb 19, the day the S&P 500 closed at a record 6,144.15. It closed 21 cents below day 1's open.

What followed:

• Next session (Feb 20): closed at 155.31, −1.7%.
• Feb 21: 146.07, the first close below the pattern's low of 155.21.
• Ten sessions later (Mar 5): 142.58, −9.7%.
• Mar 13: 119.38, −24.4%.
• Apr 8: 105.69, −33.1%. That is 8.8 times the 5.95 risked on each share. It was the last close before the Apr 9 tariff pause, with the S&P 500 18.9% under its Feb 19 record.
• The high of 163.93 held for 368 sessions. Until then Airbnb never traded above 157.75, its high on Feb 20, 2025. On Aug 7, 2026 it gapped up 8.6% and closed at 178.07.

Its only 5% gap in the fall came on Apr 3, 2025, the day after the tariff announcement, and it was about an eighth of the fall.

With $500 at risk, the stop sized the short at 84 shares, about $13,270. At the Apr 8 close those shares were up $4,392.

Example 2: Apple (AAPL) at a prior high, Mar 29-31, 2022#

Open AAPL in the VCP Scanner terminal →

Day 1 was Apple's 11th straight gain, its longest winning streak since 2003. Day 2 ended it. Day 3 closed 2.08 below day 1's open.

What followed:

• Next session (Apr 1): closed at 174.31, −0.2%, already below the pattern's low of 174.40.
• Apr 4: a rebound to a high of 178.49, 1.12 under the stop. The stop held.
• Ten sessions later (Apr 14): 165.29, −5.3%.
• Apr 27: 156.57, −10.3%.
• Jun 16: 130.06, −25.5%. That is 8.9 times the 5.00 risked on each share. It was the day the S&P 500 set its June 2022 closing low.
• The high of 179.61 held for 293 sessions, until Jun 1, 2023. Apple did not close above day 1's 178.96 again until that day.

There was not one 5% gap in the fall: it was steady selling. Day 1's close was also the best close of Apple's rebound from its January 2022 record, the top in the dark cloud cover article.

With $500 at risk, the stop sized the short at 100 shares, about $17,461. At the Jun 16 close those shares were up $4,455.

Where a three inside down counts: key levels#

A three inside down on a level is a test of that level from below. In the terminal, the Only at a key level switch is on by default and keeps the ones that close back below one of these:

Apple's came at a prior high: it traded above the Jan 12, 2022 high of 177.18, and day 3 closed back below it. It shows with the switch on, and the inspector reads "at a prior high". Airbnb's came at a fresh high, on none of these levels. To see ones like it, turn Only at a key level off.

Both stocks were in Stage 2, Stan Weinstein's advancing stage, so each pattern marked the top of a rally inside an uptrend. Airbnb's capped a 30.5% run from its Jan 27, 2025 low, and Apple's a 19.7% rebound from its Mar 14, 2022 low.

How to trade a three inside down#

1. Find the high. A three inside down comes after a rally. Look for it at a prior high, a failed breakout's pivot, a falling average or a fresh multi-month high, like Airbnb's in February 2025.
2. Check the bars. Day 1 is a long green day, day 2 sits inside its body, and day 3 is red and closes below day 1's open. Airbnb's day 3 closed 21 cents below that open and Apple's 2.08.
3. Choose your entry. Holders sell or tighten their stop at day 3's close, and some short sellers enter there. Others wait for a close below the pattern's low. Apple gave that close the next session and Airbnb two sessions later.
4. Put the stop above the high. Above the highest of the three highs, or above the highest high of the test if price went higher earlier in it. The terminal calls this "the high, test included". Airbnb's risk was 3.8% and Apple's 2.9%.
5. Size from the stop. Shares = money at risk ÷ (stop − entry). With $500 at risk on Apple: 500 ÷ (179.61 − 174.61) = 100 shares.

Find three inside down patterns on any chart in VCP Scanner#

• Open a stock in the terminal, for example ABNB or AAPL.
• Open Candles in the chart toolbar and tick Three inside down, or use the Bearish quick pick for every bearish name.
• Only at a key level is on by default. Turn it off to see every three inside down on the chart.
• The chart jumps to the latest one. A dot marks each one above its middle bar, and the selected one shows its stop on the price scale.
• The inspector lists the dates, close, stop, risk to stop, level, volume and stage. Walk through the others with the ← and → keys.
• Mark the ones you care about with the drawing tools. The arrows in the charts above are the Arrow Marker (Alt+A): click where the arrow starts, then click the candle.

Candles are free, on daily, weekly and monthly charts.

Bottom line#

• A three inside down is a bearish harami confirmed: a long green day, a small day inside it, then a red day that closes below the green day's open.
• Airbnb's marked its February 2025 top and Apple's its March 2022 rally high. They risked 3.8% and 2.9%, and the stocks fell 33.1% and 25.5% within 120 sessions.
• The pattern's high is the stop. It defines your risk before you take the trade.

Data: VCPScanner daily market data through Nov 3, 2026, split-adjusted. The examples are for education, not recommendations.