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Friday, August 21, 2009

Trading Strategy - Ascending Triangles Downside Breakout

By Jeff Cartridge

The ascending triangle chart pattern is a very well known pattern that has been used by many successful traders over the years on the long side, but is not always traded short. An ascending triangle is formed when the price action is contained within two lines. The top line is close to horizontal while the bottom line slopes up towards the top line.

Ascending Triangles Can Be Profitable Short

Ascending triangles are definitely not one of the most predictable patterns that are available to trade short. With just 36% of the patterns breaking down ascending triangles also don't deliver good returns when they do. The average drop is 0.31% in 9 days with about half of the breakouts (44%) being profitable. These results aren't great, but selecting the right conditions can make trading ascending triangles better.

Specific Setups to Improve Profitability

When you look at the performance of an ascending triangle in bearish market conditions you will see the results were stronger than they were in more bullish years. Despite this the pattern works the best at turning points, which occur when the stock and the market are in an up trend or consolidating. The sector should be falling or consolidating to make the best profits.

A breakout from an ascending triangle is best if it occurs later in the pattern, in fact all the way to the point of the pattern is good, but not near the start. The best trades occur when a down side break occurs after the stock bounces off the lower boundary and drops back before hitting the upper boundary.

If volume supports an ascending triangle breakout then the profitability of the trades improves. For volume to support the breakout, volume when the stock is going down should be greater than volume when the stock is going up.

Short Trading Ascending Triangles Can Be Profitable

Following a series of simple rules to determine which ascending triangle to trade can improve results dramatically. By applying these filters ascending triangles are profitable on 52% of the trades and return an average of 1.07% per trade in 10 days. This is a profitable pattern to trade.

Note: Statistics for this article have been provided by Patterns Trader after analyzing over 60,000 chart patterns on the Australian market from 2000 - 2008. - 23159

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