Trading Strategy - Descending Triangles Downside Breakout

By Jeff Cartridge

The descending triangle can be traded very successfully on the short side entering the trade as the stock breaks out of the pattern to the downside. The pattern forms when the two boundary lines that contain the price movement converge to a point. The top line slopes down toward the bottom line which is horizontal.

Descending Triangles, One Of The Best

Descending triangles are one of the most predictable patterns that are available to trade short. With 57% of the patterns breaking down descending triangles can deliver good returns when they do. The average gain is 0.92% in 9 days with about half of the breakouts (45%) being profitable. These results are good but selecting the right conditions can make trading descending triangles very attractive.

Specific Setups to Improve Profitability

When you look at the performance of a descending triangle in bearish market conditions you will see the results were stronger than they were in more bullish years. Trading descending triangles when the market is in a down trend or consolidating improves your trading results. The sector should be falling to make the most profits. Unusually the trend of the sector at the end of the pattern, prior to the breakout is less important than the sector trend at the start of the pattern.

Descending triangles that breakout early in the pattern, produce similar results to those that breakout later, so this is not an important filter to use. The best results are achieved when the stock climbs up from the lower boundary and collapses back before reaching the upper boundary of the pattern.

Ensure that the volume is supportive of the breakout, i.e. volume as the share falls is greater than volume as the share rises.

Descending Triangles, Profitable When the Markets Is Not

You can improve your trading results by using a series of simple filters that have been outlined here. This select group of descending triangles delivers an average profit of 2.55% in 10 days and is profitable on 48% of the trades. Overall this makes descending triangles extremely 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. - 23229

About the Author:

Jeff Cartridge is a private trader and created the website LearnCFDs.com Ways to Make Serious Money With A Small Investment