We've discussed the five most commonly used major reversal pat­terns—the head and shoulders, double and triple tops and bot­toms, the saucer, and the V, or spike. Of those, the most common are the head and shoulders, and double tops and bottoms. These patterns usually signal important trend reversals in progress and are classified as major reversal patterns. There is another class of patterns, however, which are shorter term in nature and usually suggest trend consolidations rather than reversals. They are aptly called continuation patterns. Let's look at this other type of pattern in Chapter 6.