FAP Turbo

Make Over 90% Winning Trades Now!

Monday, August 31, 2009

CFD Trading Strategy - Symmetrical Triangles Downside Breakout

By Jeff Cartridge

Symmetrical triangles have been very popular with traders over the years trading the chart pattern when it breaks out in either direction. A symmetrical triangle is defined by two lines, one on the upper boundary of the price movement which slopes down and one on the lower side which slopes up. The lines have almost the same angle, hence the name symmetrical.

Symmetrical Triangles, Not Usually Traded Short

Symmetrical triangles are definitely not one of the most predictable patterns that are available to trade short. With just 45% of the patterns breaking down symmetrical triangles also don't deliver good returns when they do. The average drop is 0.33% in 9 days with less than half of the breakouts (44%) being profitable. These results are not great, but selecting the right conditions can make trading symmetrical triangles better.

Specific Setups to Improve Profitability

As you would expect a break to the downside works better in a falling sector and market environment. By using filters that require the market, stock and the sector to be in a consolidation or a down trend you can improve the results.

A breakout from a symmetrical triangle is best if it occurs later in the pattern, 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.

Ensure that the volume is supportive of the breakout, i.e. volume as the stock falls is greater than volume as the stock rises. One last filter that improves the results is to look for the share to close lower prior to the breakout.

Symmetrical Triangles Profitable on the Short Side as Well

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 1.58% in 9 days and is profitable on 47% of the trades. Overall this makes symmetrical triangles attractive to trade on the short side.

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. - 23200

About the Author:

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]

<< Home