Saturday, August 15, 2009

Tips for Trading Ascending Triangles Short

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 Traded Short

Most ascending triangles would be expected to break up and most of the time this is true, but 36% break out to the downside making it possible to trade on the short side. Just 44% of these breakouts are profitable and on average the profit per trade is only 0.31% over a period of 9 days. The ascending triangle is not one of the best chart patterns when it breaks to the downside, but applying some filters can make this pattern more attractive to trade.

Refine Your Entries

Short breakouts from ascending triangles work better in falling markets which is clear from the results that were achieved in 2000, 2002 and 2008. The best short trades occur at market turning points. The market and the stock should be in an up trend or consolidating, with the sector consolidating or falling for the best results when trading ascending triangles short.

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

Incorporating these simple changes when selecting ascending triangles to trade short, dramatically improves the results. With an average return per trade of 1.07% in 10 days and a hit rate of 52% it is possible for ascending triangles to be traded short successfully.

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.

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