Introduction
A Symmetrical Triangle is one of the most reliable chart patterns in the market. This pattern is characterized by converging two trend lines, which are drawn by connecting a series of peaks and troughs. The Symmetrical Triangle pattern is made up of price fluctuations where each swings high and swing low makes lower highs and higher lows. Essentially, the coiling movement of price action creates the structure of a Symmetrical Triangle. When the triangle is forming on the price chart, it indicates that neither the sellers nor the buyers are pushing the price far enough to create a clear uptrend or downtrend.
This pattern is also known as the ‘coil’ because, most of the time, it forms in a continuation phase. Symmetrical Triangle pattern consists of at least two lower highs and two lower lows. So when these points are connected, the lines converge, and the Symmetrical Triangle takes shape. A part of the trading community believes that if this pattern is formed in an uptrend, the price will break upward. Likewise, if the pattern forms in a downtrend, the price action will break downward. However, these are just assumptions and are not entirely true.
The reason for the formation of the Symmetrical Triangle on the price chart is because of the lack of volume and price movement in any underlying currency pair. This eventually results in the formation of a coiling pattern. Hence it is merely impossible to find out which side of the pattern will breakout. The only way to trade this pattern is to let the breakout happen on any of the sides and take the trade only after confirmations.
Symmetrical Triangle Chart Pattern – Trading Strategies
Conventional Way – Buy Example
Step 1 - Identifying The Pattern
We can see the formation of a Symmetrical Triangle pattern in the below GBP/NZD Forex pair. We can observe the market coiling and not moving in any certain direction, which eventually resulted in this pattern.
Step 2 - Entry, Stop-Loss & Take-Profit
In the below chart, we had taken the entry when the price action broke the upper trend line. This pattern is pretty reliable but needs a lot of patience as the only way to trade is by stalking the charts. We can notice the market blasting to the north immediately after the breakout of the upper trend line. The stop-loss is placed just below the lower trend line, and the take-profit is placed at the higher timeframe’s resistance area.
Conventional Way – Sell Example
Step 1 - Identifying The Pattern
The formation of the Symmetrical Triangle pattern can be seen in the below AUD/JPY Forex pair. The market was in an overall downtrend, but from 28th – 30th January, it turned into a consolidation phase, which resulted in the formation of this pattern.
Step 2 - Entry, Stop-Loss & Take-Profit
However, on 30th Jan, the lower trend line was broken, indicating a sell signal in the AUD/JPY Forex pair. The entry can be right after the breakage of the lower trend line if you are an aggressive trader. But for conservative traders, it is recommended to watch for the bearish confirmation candles and then take the trade.
Here, we have gone for two targets. The first one was at the recent low, and the second target was a bit deeper, which is at the higher timeframe’s support area. If you are an intraday trader, then the TP1 is a good location for you to close your position. But if you are a swing trader, TP2 is the best match. Most of the time, the breakout trades do perform, and that is the reason for us to use the recent higher low as an appropriate stop-loss placement.
Symmetrical triangle + Simple Moving Average
In this strategy, we have paired the Symmetrical Triangle pattern with Simple Moving Average to identify accurate trading signals. SMA is a technical indicator used by almost every technical trader to identify the market trend. A smaller period average reacts more to the price action, whereas the larger period tends to respond less. If the SMA is below the price action, it means that the trend is up, and if it is above the price action, it indicates a bearish trend.
Step 1 - Identifying The Pattern & Plotting SMA On To The Price Chart
We can observe the formation of a Symmetrical triangle pattern on the EUR/NZD Forex chart.
Step 2 - Knowing What Not To Do
One of the most common ways of trading the Symmetrical Triangle and SMA is to let the price action go above or below the MA line to take an entry. But that approach is riskier, and let’s see why. In the below image, we have marked two circles where the MA generates both buy & sell signal. It is clear that the selling signal failed to perform, and the price action goes above the SMA. When the price broke the SMA, some traders might have taken buy entries, but that’s an immature way to trade this pattern. The reason for the formation of the Symmetrical Triangle is due to the lack of volume or price movement. So there is no way to know which side of this pattern will break.
Step 3 - Entry, Stop-Loss & Take-Profit
The correct way to trade the Symmetrical Triangle pattern is to use both of the trading tools in conjunction with each other. When the SMA goes below the price action, it confirms that the prices are more likely to break upside. When strong buyers break the Symmetrical Triangle with strong power, it’s a clear indication for us to go long. So we have entered the market right after the price broke above the upper trend line of the pattern.
If you are a confirmation trader, we recommend you wait for the price action to hold above the Symmetrical Triangle to take a ‘buy’ entry. For this particular strategy, we placed the stop-loss below the SMA, and take-profit was at the higher timeframe’s resistance area. After our entry, we can see the buyers blasting to the north, and we end up milking 100+ pips in this Forex pair.
Conclusion
The Symmetrical Triangle pattern is widely used among traders. The difficult part of trading this pattern is predicting the direction of the breakout. All we can do is to watch the charts until the breakout happens and anticipate the trade. The traditional way to book the profit is at the beginning of the triangle itself. However, we can use some other approaches such as higher timeframe’s S&R areas, supply-demand zones, or exiting the position when the market turns into a consolidation phase.
We hope you had a good read. Let us know if you have any questions in the comments below, and we would love to answer them. Happy Trading.
