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118. Using Rectangle Chart Patterns to Trade Breakouts

Introduction

The Rectangle is a technical chart pattern that is described by two horizontal lines acting like potential support and resistance levels on the price chart. Trading this pattern is similar to buying at the support and selling at the resistance level. Conventional traders can trade this pattern only after the appearance of the breakout.

The Rectangle represents a trading range, which indicates the fight between the two parties – buyers & sellers. As the price reaches the support level, buyers step in and push the price higher. And when the price reaches the resistance level, bears take over and force the price lower.

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In this fight, one party will eventually get exhausted, and the winner will emerge when the price breaks out in any direction. So we can say that the Rectangle is a neutral pattern as either trend continuation or reversals may happen after the formation of this pattern.

Rectangle Chart Pattern – Trading Strategies

Buy Example

The below chart represents the formation of a Rectangle pattern in the GBP/CAD pair.

As we can see in the below chart, the market just started its uptrend, and during the pullback, it turned into the consolidation phase forming a range. This consolidation phase eventually forms the Rectangle pattern.

This pattern is very easy to spot and trade. We can wait for the pattern to break the range to enter the market. If you are an active trader, you can even take a couple of buy/sell trades in a lower timeframe. In the example shown below, we have decided to go long as soon as the price action broke the pattern from the upside. The stop-loss order is placed just below the Rectangle, and the take-profit is at the recent high.

Sell Example

The image below represents the formation of a Rectangle pattern in a downtrend.

The below chart represents the entry, exit, and the placement of stop-loss & take-profit orders in the GBP/NZD Forex pair. In an ongoing downtrend, when the prices reached the significant support zone, it started to hold. The sideways movement of the price shows that both the parties are super strong, and the breakout to any side will be a good trade.

After the battle, prices broke towards the downside, which is a clear indication for us to go short. The stop-loss order is placed just above the pattern. Because, in a downtrend, if the price breaks the Rectangle pattern’s resistance, it must be considered invalid. Hence there is no need to go for deeper stop-loss. We would always recommend placing the stops just above or at least at the same height as the pattern.

For booking profits, we didn’t choose any specific location. Instead, we were watching the price action keenly and chose to close our full positions when the sellers started to die. We can close our positions in different ways, depending on the market situation. For instance, we can exit the trade when prices approach the significant support area. We can even take the help of technical indicators to close our positions. Technical traders are also using price action techniques these days to exit their running positions.

That’s about the Rectangle chart pattern and how to trade it. If you have any queries, let us know in the comments below. Cheers. [wp_quiz id=”73928″]

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By Reddy Shyam Shankar

I am a professional Price Action retail trader and Speculator with expertise in Risk Management, Trade Management, and Hedging.

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