The ascending triangle is a very well known chart pattern that has been used by many successful traders over the years. 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, Easy To Trade

Most ascending triangles, in fact 63%, break out to the upside making this pattern very predictable. Around half (51%) of these breakouts are profitable and on average the profit per trade is 1.43% over a period of 10 days.

The high chance that the ascending triangle will break to the upside, together with some strong moves when the pattern does breakout, makes this pattern attractive to trade.

Refine Your Entries

A long breakout from an ascending triangle works better in a rising market which is clear from the poor performance in 2002 and 2008. Ensure the market is in a consolidation phase or an up trend prior to the breakout. Check the sector is in an up trend as well.

Ascending triangles that breakout near the point of the pattern produce inferior results. A breakout is better if it occurs before the pattern gets 90% of the way to the point of the pattern. Shallow patterns are also best avoided, where the pattern height is less than 2% when compared to the stock price.

Ascending triangles with two lows at the same price or two closes at the same price are also should be avoided, as this usually occurs in an illiquid stock. If the volume supports the breakout the results are better. Supportive volume means the volume on the way up is higher than the volume on the way down.

Ascending Triangles Are Very Profitable

You can improve your trading results by using a series of simple filters that have been outlined here. This select group of ascending triangles delivers an average profit of 1.83% in 10 days and is profitable on 58% of the trades. Overall this makes ascending triangles attractive 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.