The Triangle Candlestick is a continuation pattern. It forms when price moves into a tighter range depicting combat between the bulls and the bears. Ascending triangles are always considered bullish signals and descending triangles are always considered bearish signals, while symmetrical triangles typically result in a continuation of the prior trend but may also signal a reversal.
What is the Triangle Candlestick Pattern?
The Triangle acts as a Horizontal Trading Pattern. It shows wide points at the initial stages, and as the price continues to move, the trading range becomes narrow, forming a triangle.
There are three types of Triangle Pattern; ascending, descending, symmetrical.
Ascending Triangle
The Ascending Triangle is a breakout pattern that appears when the price surpasses the resistance level. The resistance level is a horizontal line, forming a slope of higher lows. The triangle shows that the buyers are starting to gain momentum, but are pushing the price beyond the resistance level, developing a breakout.
The Ascending Triangle is bullish in nature and surfaces in an uptrend.
Descending Triangle
The Descending Triangle is a breakdown pattern that forms when the price falls behind the support level. The support line is horizontal, presenting lower highs. The triangle identifies that the sellers are gaining ground against the buyers.
The Descending Triangle is a bearish pattern and develops in a downtrend.
Symmetrical Triangle
The Symmetrical Triangle is a combination of higher lows and lower highs. The triangle signifies that neither the buyers nor the sellers are driving the price.
The Symmetrical Triangle is a continuation break pattern and emerges in an uptrend/downtrend.
How to use the Triangle Candlestick Pattern?
Traders use all forms of the Triangle Candlestick Pattern to mark possible entry or exit signals.
Traders may look to go long after the appearance of the Ascending Triangle. The buyers look for the pattern in an uptrend and wait for some time to confirm the trend continuation. An aggressive trader may initiate the trade right after the formation of the Ascending Triangle.
Technical Analysts say that the Ascending Triangle can take a month to establish and can continue for 90 days. For this reason, traders may choose to go long once the price breaches the resistance level.
Conversely, the Descending Triangle determines a bearish signal. After its establishment, traders apply the Descending Triangle to go short. It usually takes the same amount of time to occur as the Ascending Triangle according to analysts.
The Symmetrical Triangle defines a period of uncertainty. Traders don’t know whether to go long or short. However, traders can predict the direction of the trend when the breakout happens. For example, if the breakout takes place at the resistance level, there is a chance that the price will continue to go upwards.
A key thing to consider when trading Triangle Patterns is the volume as it plays an essential role in the breakout to upside or downside. You can use the volume indicator to measure current market volume.
Traders should also look for the head-fake. It is a situation when the price moves in one direction but suddenly reverses.
Triangle Candlestick Pattern trading strategy
An ascending triangle is generally considered to be a continuation pattern, meaning that the pattern is significant if it occurs within an uptrend or downtrend. Once the breakout from the triangle occurs, traders tend to aggressively buy or sell the asset depending on which direction the price broke out.
The Triangle Patterns seldom turn up on the charts. But when they do, they can be used as part of a forex trading strategy.
Analysts recommend navigating the pattern on higher timeframes and hold the positions for a long time.
The simplest and most obvious way to trade a wedge or a triangle is to trade between those two lines. You basically sell at the top line with a stop above the resistance and buy at the bottom line with a stop below the support.
You can spot Triangle Candlestick Patterns on long and short term timeframes. They can appear on forex currency pairs, stocks, indices, cryptocurrencies, commodities, metals, energies, gold, silver and more.
Triangle Candlestick Pattern buy strategy
- Look for the Ascending Triangle in an uptrend.
- Wait for the price bar to go bullish.
- Enter the trade after the breakout at the resistance level.
- Set a stop-loss near the recent low of the triangle.
- Exit the trade on a high.
Triangle Candlestick Pattern sell strategy
- Locate the Descending Triangle in a downtrend.
- Wait for the price bar to go bearish.
- Enter the trade after the breakout at the support level.
- Set a stop-loss near the recent high of the triangle.
- Exit the trade on a low.
Triangle Candlestick Pattern conclusion
A forex triangle pattern is a consolidation pattern that occurs mid-trend and usually signals a continuation of the existing trend. The triangle chart pattern is formed by drawing two converging trendlines as price temporarily moves in a sideways direction.
The Triangle Candlestick Pattern hints continuation of the trend. Traders may wish to wait for confirmation of the trend because sometimes a head-fake could cause distractions.
The Triangle Candlestick Pattern can be used on your trading platform charts to help filter potential trading signals as part of an overall forex trading strategy.
If you are looking to trade forex online, you will need an account with a forex broker such as Pepperstone, you can find out more by reading a Pepperstone broker review to see if they are right for your needs. If you are looking for some inspiration, please feel free to browse my best forex brokers.
You can also read this Pepperstone broker review as they are another well-known broker that also have free forex demo accounts so you can practice trading forex before making any commitment.
I have spent many years testing and reviewing forex brokers. IC Markets are my top choice as I find they have tight spreads, low commission fees, quick execution speeds and excellent customer support.
Self-confessed Forex Geek spending my days researching and testing everything forex related. I have many years of experience in the forex industry having reviewed thousands of forex robots, brokers, strategies, courses and more. I share my knowledge with you for free to help you learn more about the crazy world of forex trading! Read more about me.
