It targets a reversal at the single overstretched point where the crowd is sure the move will never stop. Of all the harmonics, the crab carries D the farthest, making it the most extreme reversal.
The crab is a harmonic reversal pattern drawn from the five points X, A, B, C, and D.
Its defining trait can be said in a line: of all the harmonics, the crab carries D the farthest.
The final leg CD overshoots the opening leg XA by a wide margin, and price stretches to a single point far beyond the X level. Then, at the exact spot where everyone feels this momentum can never stop, it reverses sharply. That is the skeleton of a crab.
It was devised by Scott Carney and counts among the family of harmonic patterns. It uses the same XABCD framework as its cousins the butterfly and the bat, but it stands out because D reaches the most extreme destination of them all.
The key thing to grasp is that a crab is defined by a combination of Fibonacci ratios rather than by its shape alone. The retracement of B, the extension of CD, and the placement of D: only when these three ratios line up can it truly be called a crab. If the ratios miss, a similar-looking shape is something else.
The PRZ (the potential reversal zone, where the reversal is expected) is narrow, which keeps the distance between entry and stop small. That is why it is considered precise. At the same time, it is an advanced pattern: it demands the patience to wait for D and the nerve to fade a move that has already overstretched.
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