How to Trade the Ascending Triangle Pattern

Conversely, a flat volume trend hints that the breakout or the breakdown may not have enough momentum. So, below, we are going to show you two basic but effective strategies to use when you identify the ascending triangle pattern. Two highs in the upper trendline, three lows in the rising lower trendline, and a clear price intersection that eventually is broken. The Head and shoulders pattern is a reversal trading strategy, which can develop at the end of bullish or bearish trends. It is often referred to as an inverted head and shoulders pattern in… The uptrend line breakdown if you are looking to get long is the better of the two.

It involves prices moving in the tighter and tighter range in a triangle pattern which shows the battle between the bears and bulls. Ascending triangle chart patterns should be viewed as effective tools that are far from perfect. From this perspective, they should be considered as part of a wider investment analysis process. Instead, an ascending triangle pattern might be combined with other indicators when making a trading decision. Once traders have at least two highs and two lows, lines can be drawn on a chart to discover whether a stock pattern triangle is forming. In theory, the more data points present, the more reliable the signal.

• Deepen your knowledge of technical analysis indicators and hone your skills as a trader.
• You don’t need to remember lots of information about the pattern, and it provides easy signals and works similarly for any asset, from forex to stocks.
• The supply line is the top line of the triangle and represents the overbought side of the market when investors are going out taking profits with them.
• The value of an investment in stocks and shares can fall as well as rise, so you may get back less than you invested.
• It is this configuration formed by higher lows that forms the triangle and gives it a bullish characterization.
• An ascending triangle is a bullish continuation pattern and is characterized by two consecutive higher lows and a flat resistance line.

This leaves room for the stock to test the horizontal band as new support, but protects you from larger losses in case the breakout fails. There are also instances when ascending triangles signal bear markets’ end. One is Ethereum’s triangle formation between March 2020 and April 2020, which led to a trend reversal to the upside, as shown below.

Cup and Handle Pattern: Definition & Strategy

The BTC price breaks out of the triangle range in late July to the upside. It returns to retest the pattern’s resistance trendline as support in September for further bullish confirmation, resuming its uptrend. Next, establish a top horizontal resistance line with at least two swing highs coinciding with the horizontal line. The greater the number there are, the clearer this horizontal line becomes and so will the ascending triangle pattern be considered more reliable.

• Bulls (or buyers) are then capable of pushing security prices past the resistance level indicated by the flat top line of the triangle.
• Successful trading relies on having good information about the market for a stock.
• If you had placed another entry order below the slope of the higher lows, then you would cancel it as soon as the first order was hit.
• As the price continues to hit resistance and then fall back, the swing lows of the pattern become higher.
• We will enter into a trade only when breakout/breakdown is confirmed by price trading above the high of the breakout candle.

Again, the triangle formation offers easy identification of reasonable stop-loss order levels—below the low of the triangle when buying, or above the triangle high if selling short. https://g-markets.net/s are bullish, meaning that they indicate that a security’s price is likely to climb higher as the pattern completes itself. The second trendline—the bottom line of the triangle that shows price support—is a line of ascension formed by a series of higher lows.

For a short setup, a slot loss order can be kept at the previous swing high of the triangle. Jesse has worked in the finance industry for over 15 years, including a tenure as a trader and product manager responsible for a flagship suite of multi-billion-dollar funds. Since it’s ascending, the bottom horizontal line is tracking new higher lows.

How reliable are ascending triangles?

As you can see in the above image, the descending triangle pattern is the upside-down image of the ascending triangle pattern. The two lows on the above chart form the lower flat line of the triangle and, again, have to be only close in price action rather than exactly the same. Their formation within an uptrend during a consolidation phase indicates a high probability of the underlying upward trend continuing once a breakout from the pattern occurs.

Using stop-losses on the opposite side of the trend is another tool traders can use to reduce risk in a potential ascending triangle breakout or breakdown scenario. In other words, traders can exit their positions at a smaller loss should the trend reverse before reaching its technical profit target. Explained below are several effective forex trading strategies that can help you capitalize on the potential breakout trading opportunities presented by the ascending triangle pattern. The ascending triangle is a good chart pattern as long as it develops within an uptrend.

This triangle chart pattern is fairly easy to recognize and assists traders to find entry and exit levels during an ongoing trend. As said earlier, the ascending triangle is a bullish formation that occurs in a mid-trend. In the chart below, we can see how the ascending triangle looks in the live market. From an existing uptrend, the price action extends higher through the bullish triangle. Two trend lines are drawn to connect the highs and lows, with the latter closing in on the former.

Ascending Triangle FAQs

The ascending triangle is formed in an uptrend and indicates the continuation of the uptrend. The descending triangle is formed in the downtrend and indicates the continuation of the downtrend. There are certain factors that one should consider when trading with the descending and ascending triangle pattern. An ascending triangle is a chart pattern formed when a stock repeatedly tests an area of resistance while setting consecutively higher lows.

As the continuation chart patterns breakout is in the direction of the main trend it’s easy to trade them and they are more reliable then reversal patterns. We have completely discussed how you can trade a pattern and place your stop loss and exit accordingly. The chart pattern is more reliable than the candlestick pattern as they take more time to complete. For a beginner, it is easy to spot chart patterns and probably the most reliable setup to trade. These patterns can be used by traders to pinpoint probable entry and exit locations for lucrative transactions. The ascending triangle charting formation is basically a continuation candlestick pattern, which means you are looking to enter a long position to join the ongoing trend.

Spotting the Ascending Triangle

In essence, this trading method involves entering a position when the price moves out of a defined range. An example is the best way to understand what the pattern looks like on a price chart. In the example below, you can see how the ascending triangle pattern was formed in the USD/JPY 1H chart. Still, you don’t need to be a rocket scientist to discover the pattern. Essentially, what you need to do is find a price consolidation during an ongoing trend. Secondly, try to identify the upper resistance line with at least two highs which will help you determine the upper line.

ELM constantly experiments with new education methodologies and technologies to make financial education effective, affordable and accessible to all. This indicates the strength of bulls and bulls are willing to pay more for the stock. In this example, the height of the widest portion of the triangle is roughly $20 ($280 less $260). The $20 provides a rough approximation of how much further the price could fall. However, in some cases, the support line will be too strong, and the price will bounce off of it and make a strong move up. If we set our short order below the bottom of the triangle, we could’ve caught some pips off that dive.

On one hand, a break of the upper trend line signals the continuation of the bullish trend. On the other, a move below the supporting line breaks the series of the higher highs and invalidates the entire pattern. In this case, the followup is usually a strong move lower as the buyers missed their chance to continue the uptrend. Thus, this is the main strength of the ascending triangle – it helps the uptrend to extend. Due to the existence of two trend lines, we are in a better position to determine the take profit and stop loss, if the pattern is activated.

Next, we’ll jump to a simple breakout trading strategy that will teach you how to identify and trade the ascending triangle formation. You won’t catch every trade using a breakout which is why looking inside the ascending triangle pattern is a good approach. There’s a resistance level, and it seems the market won’t move upwards.

The point we are trying to make is that you should not be obsessed with which direction the price goes, but you should be ready for movement in EITHER direction. Since we already know that the price is going to break out, we can just hitch a ride in whatever direction the market moves. We don’t know what direction ascending triangle pattern the breakout will be, but we do know that the market will most likely break out. Volume behavior throughout the pattern formation can be quite erratic and thus risky to rely on. I like to wait for a key pivot point resistance level to be breached and then place a buy order slightly above this level.

Most traders anticipate the market to go on in the direction of the bigger trend and form trading setups accordingly. The ascending triangle is a bullish continuation pattern and is characterized by a rising lower trendline and a flat upper trendline that acts as support. This pattern indicates that buyers are more aggressive than sellers as price continues to make higher lows. The pattern completes itself when price breaks out of the triangle in the direction of the overall trend. Support and resistance levels represent points on a price chart where there is a likelihood of a letup or a reversal of the prevailing trend.