Tips for Trading Symmetrical Triangles Long with CFDs
August 28, 2009 by Jeff Cartridge
Filed under Stock Trading
The symmetrical triangle is sometimes referred to as a wedge. It is a very well known and easily recognized chart pattern that has been used by many successful traders over the years. A symmetrical triangle is formed when the price action is contained within two lines. The top line slopes down while the bottom line slopes up towards the top line. The angle of the two lines is similar giving rise to the name symmetrical.
Symmetrical Triangles, Unpredictable but Profitable
Symmetrical triangle breakouts show a slight bias to the upside with patterns breaking up 56% of the time. This upward bias is likely due to the overall bullish bias of the market as the symmetrical nature of the pattern does not clearly indicate a breakout direction. The breakout of symmetrical triangles can deliver strong returns with 44% of the patterns being profitable. The average return for the long trades is 0.85% in 9 days.
Refine Your Entries
Unusually symmetrical triangles do not work well when the market is an up trend, but perform better when the market is consolidating or falling. As would be expected, both the sector and the share should be consolidating or in an up trend.
Symmetrical triangles are sensitive to the length of the pattern with breakouts that occur in less than 25 days, from the start of the pattern, performing the best. While the pattern breakout works best in the range specified, avoid trading patterns that breakout early, in the first 30% of the pattern length.
If the volume is very strong in support of the breakout the results are better. Supportive volume means the volume on the way up is 40% higher than the volume on the way down.
Symmetrical Triangles Deliver Strong Profits
You can improve your trading results by using a series of simple filters that have been outlined here. This select group of symmetrical triangles delivers an average profit of 1.87% in 11 days and is profitable on 55% of the trades. Overall this makes symmetrical 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.
