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Pattern 6 of 18: all patterns
Classic reversals
  1. Double top and double bottom
  2. Triple top and triple bottom
  3. Head and shoulders
Consolidation breakouts
  1. Ascending triangle
  2. Descending triangle
  3. Symmetrical triangle
  4. Rising wedge and falling wedge
  5. Rectangle
  6. Bull flag and bear flag
  7. Bull pennant and bear pennant
Harmonic patterns
  1. AB=CD
  2. Gartley
  3. Bat
  4. Butterfly
  5. Crab
Smart money concepts
  1. Order block after a break of structure
  2. Liquidity sweep and fair value gap
Session patterns
  1. Opening range breakout
Consolidation breakouts  ·  Pattern 6 of 18

Symmetrical triangle

Breakout, either directionAlso called: Coil

Lower highs and higher lows squeeze price toward a point. Neither side is in control until one line breaks.

What it shows

The range shrinks because both buyers and sellers are waiting. The break shows who gave up first. Textbooks treat it as a continuation of the trend that came before, but the scanner makes no assumption.

How the scanner finds it
  • The upper line falls by at least 0.6 ATR and the lower line rises by at least 0.6 ATR across the pattern.
  • Every swing touches its line and every close stays inside.
12345TargetEntryStop1234
An idealized drawing. The numbers are the alert stages; the shaded boxes are the textbook stop and target.

How the alerts work for this pattern

  1. 1
    Forming

    Four swings fit two converging lines.

  2. 2
    Complete

    A fifth swing still fits.

  3. 3
    Close to signaling

    A close comes near either line.

  4. 4
    Time to act

    A candle closes beyond a line.

  5. x
    Cancelled

    The lines meet (the apex), or one more pattern length passes.

The textbook trade

Trigger
A close beyond either line.
Stop
Beyond the last swing on the other side.
Target
The height at the start of the triangle, projected from the break.

Things to watch

  • The closer to the apex, the smaller the remaining range and the less the break tends to mean.
  • Look at the move into the triangle. A coil after a strong rally is read differently from one in a flat market.
Where it comes from

Schabacker (1932) and Edwards and Magee (1948) both describe it; Murphy (1999) gives the continuation reading.

On our charts

Real detections by the scanner on our own price data (2026-08-01 to 2026-10-19), with the alerts it sent. Times are New York time. Some worked and some did not.

US3015-minute chart2026-10-19Symmetrical triangle, broke downNeither in 8 hours
51225.751517.051808.352099.652390.910-18 20:3010-19 00:4510-19 05:0010-19 09:1510-19 13:3010-19 18:3010-19 22:451234T 51322.8E 52034.7S 52146.41345
The alerts it sent
  1. 1Forming2026-10-19 14:30 NY4 swings fit between 52021.4 and 52094.1; watching for a close beyond either line
  2. 3Close to signaling2026-10-19 14:45 NYclose to the trigger at 52028.9
  3. 4Time to act2026-10-19 15:00 NYclosed through 52036.3: entry 52034.7, stop 52146.4, target 51322.8
  4. 5Result2026-10-19 23:00 NYtime (-0.65R)
US10015-minute chart2026-10-19Symmetrical triangle, broke upHit the stop
29328.829507.029685.329863.630041.810-19 07:0010-19 09:3010-19 12:0010-19 14:3010-19 18:0010-19 20:301234T 29982.4E 29596.5S 29502.11345
The alerts it sent
  1. 1Forming2026-10-19 16:00 NY4 swings fit between 29527.8 and 29630.4; watching for a close beyond either line
  2. 3Close to signaling2026-10-19 16:00 NYclose to the trigger at 29527.8
  3. 4Time to act2026-10-19 18:30 NYclosed through 29574.2: entry 29596.5, stop 29502.1, target 29982.4
  4. 5Result2026-10-19 20:15 NYstop (-1.00R)

Education, not advice. A pattern describes what many traders watch for; it does not predict what price will do. The textbook stop and target are reference levels, not instructions. Trading involves risk.

Put it to work

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Trading involves risk. This page is education, not advice; examples come from past data.