A symmetrical triangle pattern is a chart pattern made of two converging trendlines: an upper trendline that slopes down through lower highs and a lower trendline that slopes up through higher lows. The symmetrical triangle shows a period of consolidation before a breakout, and the breakout goes in the direction of the existing trend in most cases.
Traders use two methods to trade a symmetrical triangle pattern trade: enter on the candle close outside a trendline or enter on the retest of the broken trendline, then set the price target from the height of the widest part of the symmetrical triangle. Both methods start with waiting for the breakout, because the shape of a symmetrical triangle alone does not show which way price will goA symmetrical triangle pattern is a chart pattern that forms when price makes a series of lower highs and higher lows inside a narrowing range. The upper trendline connects the lower highs and slopes down, the lower trendline connects the higher lows and slopes up, and the two trendlines meet at a point called the apex.
A symmetrical triangle pattern reflects indecision between buyers and sellers. Sellers step in on each swing high, buyers step in on each swing low, and the price range slowly narrows until one side pushes price to break out of the symmetrical triangle in a breakout.
Traders also call the symmetrical triangle pattern a coil, and some write the name as symmetric triangle or call the shape a symmetrical wedge. A true wedge pattern has both trendlines sloping in the same direction, so "symmetrical triangle pattern" is the accurate name for two trendlines with converging directions.
The symmetrical triangle is one of three triangle patterns in technical analysis, alongside the ascending triangle and the descending triangle.
The symmetrical triangle chart pattern is the only one of the three where both trendlines slope, which is why a symmetrical triangle has no bias toward an upside breakout or a downside breakout before price leaves the pattern.
How Do You Identify a Symmetrical Triangle Chart Pattern?
Traders identify a symmetrical triangle chart pattern with seven checks, from the existing trend before the pattern to the breakout that ends the symmetrical triangle.
| Check | What to look for |
|---|---|
| Existing trend | An uptrend or a downtrend before the symmetrical triangle starts. The symmetrical triangle is a consolidation inside that existing trend. |
| Upper trendline | A line through at least two lower highs, sloping down. |
| Lower trendline | A line through at least two higher lows, sloping up. |
| Touches | At least four touches in total, two on each trendline. Six touches, three on each trendline, make a stronger symmetrical triangle. |
| Volume | Volume falls as the range narrows, then rises on the breakout candle. |
| Duration | A few weeks to several months on a daily chart, with about three months as a typical length. A pattern shorter than three weeks is usually a pennant. |
| Breakout | A candle close outside the upper trendline or the lower trendline. |
The widest part (the base) of a symmetrical triangle sits at the start of the pattern, between the first swing high and the first swing low. Traders measure the widest part to set the potential price target, and they extend both trendlines forward to find the apex.
Falling volume shows that momentum on both sides are exhausting while the range narrows. The volume check comes in at the end of a symmetrical triangle, because a breakout candle with rising volume is more reliable than a breakout candle on low volume.
| Important: A pattern with both trendlines sloping the same direction is a wedge, and a pattern with one flat trendline is an ascending or descending triangle; each one has its own breakout rules, so name the shape correctly before planning a trade. |
|---|
Is Symmetrical Triangle a Continuation or Reversal Pattern?
A symmetrical triangle pattern is usually a continuation pattern, meaning the breakout goes in the same direction as the existing trend before the pattern. However, a symmetrical triangle can also act as a reversal pattern, where the breakout goes against the existing trend, although reversals are less common.
The shape of a symmetrical triangle has no bias of its own, because one trendline slopes down and the other slopes up. Traders treat the existing trend as the more likely direction and still wait for a candle to close outside a trendline before choosing the direction of a trade.
The breakout direction decides whether a symmetrical triangle is bullish or bearish. An upside breakout through the upper trendline is bullish, and a downside breakout through the lower trendline is bearish; some traders call a downside breakout a breakdown.
Identifying and Trading Bullish Symmetrical Triangle Pattern in an Uptrend
A bullish symmetrical triangle pattern forms after a strong uptrend, when price pauses in a narrowing range of lower highs and higher lows. The bullish signal comes when a candle closes above the upper trendline, which shows buyers have taken control again and the uptrend is likely to resume.
Traders look for a clear uptrend before the pattern, rising volume on the upside breakout and a close above the upper trendline before entering a long position. A symmetrical triangle in an uptrend that closes below the lower trendline instead has turned into a bearish reversal, so a long position no longer matches the chart.
Identifying and Trading Bearish Symmetrical Triangle in a Downtrend
A bearish symmetrical triangle forms after a strong downtrend, when price consolidates between a falling upper trendline and a rising lower trendline. The bearish signal comes when a candle closes below the lower trendline, which shows sellers have taken control again and the downtrend is likely to resume.
Traders enter a short position after the close below the lower trendline and measure the price target downward from the breakout point. A downside breakout on rising volume is more reliable, although traders place the most weight on volume confirmation for upside breakouts.
How Does Symmetrical Triangle Pattern Trading Work?
Symmetrical triangle pattern trading follows five steps: confirm the breakout, enter the trade, set the price target, place the stop-loss and handle a false breakout. A symmetrical triangle supplies every level these five steps need, from the two trendlines to the breakout point and the widest part.
How to Confirm a Symmetrical Triangle Breakout
A symmetrical triangle breakout is confirmed when a candle closes outside the upper trendline or the lower trendline. A wick that pokes through a trendline while the candle closes back inside the symmetrical triangle does not count as a breakout.
Rising volume on the breakout candle adds confirmation, and a breakout on low volume is less reliable. Spot forex has no central exchange, so MT4 and MT5 show tick volume, which counts the number of price changes in each candle, and forex traders apply the volume check to tick volume.
How to Enter a Symmetrical Triangle Trade
The standard entry for a symmetrical triangle is after the close of the breakout candle, specifically a long position after a close above the upper trendline, or a short position after a close below the lower trendline. A large breakout candle pushes the entry far from the breakout point, which widens the stop-loss distance and lowers the risk-reward ratio.
The conservative entry is the retest. After a breakout, price often comes back to the broken trendline or to the area around the apex, which then acts as a support level after an upside breakout or a resistance level after a downside breakout. This is a much safer entry as successful retest not only gives you a better price, at the breakout level, it also can be considered as a confirmation signal as well.
However, the only trade off is that prices do not always come back to the broken trendline, so a trader who only takes retest entries will miss some symmetrical triangle breakouts but get some very reliable trades.
A breakout candle that forms on a major data release, such as the US non-farm payrolls report, needs extra care. Spreads widen around high-impact releases, so the entry and the stop-loss can fill with slippage, and a news-driven close outside a trendline can reverse on the next candle.
How to Measure a Price Target From a Symmetrical Triangle
The price target for a symmetrical triangle equals the height of the widest part, projected from the breakout point. Traders measure the distance between the first swing high and the first swing low at the start of the symmetrical triangle (also called the base of the triangle), then add that distance to the breakout point for an upside breakout or subtract that distance for a downside breakout.
For example, a symmetrical triangle on EUR/USD with a 200-pip widest part and an upside breakout at 1.0900 gives a price target of 1.1100. The price target is a guide for planning the exit, because price can stop short of the price target or move well past the price target.
Where to Place the Stop-Loss on a Symmetrical Triangle
The standard stop-loss for a symmetrical triangle sits just below the breakout point for a long position, or just above the breakout point for a short position. A safer stop-loss sits below the last higher low inside the symmetrical triangle for a long position, or above the last lower high for a short position.
However, a stop-loss just below the breakout point can be hit by normal volatility or normal retest, while a stop-loss below the last higher low survives volatility better but needs a smaller position size to accommodate risks.
| Pro Tip: Before placing a stop-loss just below the breakout point, extend the upper trendline a few candles forward; if a retest to that extended line would hit the stop-loss, move the stop-loss below the last higher low and cut the position size. |
|---|
How to Handle a Fake Symmetrical Triangle Breakout (Fakeout Risk)
A fake breakout or a fakeout happens when price closes outside a trendline of a symmetrical triangle and then moves back inside the symmetrical triangle, often reversing in the other direction. Fake breakouts are common in symmetrical triangles, especially when the breakout candle has low volume.
Traders filter false breakouts by waiting for a candle close outside the trendline, checking for rising volume on the breakout candle and waiting for a retest that holds the broken trendline. Some traders also use technical indicators such as the relative strength index (RSI), the moving average convergence divergence (MACD) or a moving average crossover to check that momentum agrees with the breakout direction.
A stop-loss placed before entering the trade limits the loss when a false breakout happens. Traders set the position size from the stop-loss distance first, so a false breakout costs a fixed share of the account.
Symmetrical Triangle Pattern Example
The EUR/USD daily chart from March to June 2020 shows a symmetrical triangle that formed after a sharp drop and ended with an upside breakout.
Existing trend. EUR/USD fell from about 1.1490 on 9 March 2020 to about 1.0640 on 20 March 2020, a drop of roughly 850 pips in nine trading days.
Trendlines. EUR/USD then formed a symmetrical triangle. The upper trendline ran down from the 27 March high near 1.1150 through the 1 May high near 1.1020, and the lower trendline ran up from the 20 March low through higher lows near 1.0730 on 24 April and 1.0775 on 14 May.
Duration. The EUR/USD symmetrical triangle lasted about two months, well over the three-week length of a pennant, even though the symmetrical triangle formed straight after a sharp price move. Price touched the upper trendline twice and the lower trendline three times, which meets the four-touch minimum.
Breakout. EUR/USD closed above the upper trendline on 20 May 2020 at about 1.0980, with the upper trendline near 1.0915 at the breakout point. The breakout came about four-fifths of the way from the widest part to the apex, slightly later than the half to three-quarters ideal.
Retest. EUR/USD came back to the upper trendline on 22 and 25 May 2020, with lows near 1.0885 and 1.0870, while the upper trendline had fallen to about 1.0895. The retest held around the upper trendline, and EUR/USD closed near 1.1100 on 29 May.
Reversal. The existing trend before the EUR/USD symmetrical triangle was down, yet the breakout went up, so the 2020 EUR/USD symmetrical triangle worked as a reversal pattern. The 2020 EUR/USD example shows why traders wait for the close instead of assuming the breakout will follow the existing trend.
Price target. The widest part of the EUR/USD symmetrical triangle measured about 510 pips, from the 20 March low near 1.0640 to the 27 March high near 1.1150. Adding 510 pips to the breakout point near 1.0915 gives a price target near 1.1425, and EUR/USD reached a high near 1.1420 on 10 June 2020, three weeks after the breakout.
Stop-loss and position size. The table compares two stop-loss choices for a long position entered at the 20 May close near 1.0980, using a $10,000 account that risks 1% ($100) per trade and a pip value of $10 per standard lot. EUR/USD levels are rounded and can differ by a few pips between data feeds.
| Stop-loss A: just below the breakout point | Stop-loss B: below the last higher low | |
|---|---|---|
| Stop-loss level | 1.0900 | 1.0765 |
| Risk from the entry | 80 pips | 215 pips |
| Reward to the price target | 445 pips | 445 pips |
| Risk-reward ratio | About 1:5.6 | About 1:2.1 |
| Position size for $100 risk | 0.12 lots | 0.04 lots |
| Result | Closed at a loss on 22 May when the retest dipped below 1.0900 | Survived the retest and reached the price target |
Stop-loss A had the better risk-reward ratio, yet the normal retest closed the trade before EUR/USD moved to the price target. Stop-loss B used a smaller position size and stayed in the trade all the way to the price target.
A retest entry near 1.0900 on 22 May with Stop-loss B would have cut the risk to 135 pips and raised the risk-reward ratio to about 1:3.9. EUR/USD kept rising after reaching the price target and traded above 1.1900 in August 2020, which shows the price target is a guide for planning the exit.
What Are the Common Mistakes When Trading Symmetrical Triangles?
Most losing symmetrical triangle trades come from five mistakes that a trader can check for before entering a position.
- Guessing the breakout direction. Assuming a symmetrical triangle will follow the existing trend leads to early entries, and the 2020 EUR/USD symmetrical triangle formed after a drop and still broke out upward.
- Entering before a candle close. A wick through a trendline often snaps back inside the symmetrical triangle, so an entry before the close, or on a breakout with low volume, is exposed to false breakouts.
- Trading a breakout at the apex. A breakout where the two trendlines have almost met often covers little ground, so traders check where the breakout sits between the widest part and the apex before entering a trade.
- Placing the stop-loss where a normal retest hits it. A stop-loss just below the breakout point can close a long position on a routine retest of the upper trendline, as Stop-loss A did in the EUR/USD example.
- Keeping the same position size for every stop-loss. A wider stop-loss needs a smaller position size, and keeping the position size fixed while widening the stop-loss raises the account risk on the trade.
How Is a Symmetrical Triangle Different From Other Triangle Patterns, Pennants and Wedges?
The slope of the two trendlines is the quickest way to tell a symmetrical triangle apart from other triangle patterns, pennants and wedges.
| Pattern | Upper trendline | Lower trendline | Usual signal |
|---|---|---|---|
| Symmetrical triangle | Slopes down | Slopes up | Continuation of the existing trend in most cases; the breakout confirms the direction |
| Ascending triangle | Flat | Slopes up | Bullish; upside breakout expected |
| Descending triangle | Slopes down | Flat | Bearish; downside breakout expected |
| Pennant | Slopes down | Slopes up | Continuation after a sharp price move; lasts under three weeks |
| Rising wedge | Slopes up | Slopes up, more steeply | Bearish |
| Falling wedge | Slopes down, more steeply | Slopes down | Bullish |
The ascending triangle is usually read as a bullish triangle pattern and the descending triangle as a bearish one, because the flat trendline marks a level that price keeps testing. A symmetrical triangle has no flat trendline, so the breakout sets the direction.
Symmetrical Triangle vs Pennant
A pennant looks like a small symmetrical triangle, but a pennant forms straight after a sharp price move, called the flagpole, and usually lasts less than three weeks. A symmetrical triangle lasts from a few weeks to several months and can form with or without a sharp price move before it.
Volume in a pennant usually drops sharply while the pennant forms and jumps on the breakout, which continues the trend of the flagpole. The 2020 EUR/USD symmetrical triangle formed after a sharp drop but lasted about two months, which is why the 2020 EUR/USD shape counts as a symmetrical triangle.
Symmetrical Triangle vs Wedge Pattern
A wedge pattern has both trendlines sloping in the same direction: up in a rising wedge and down in a falling wedge. A symmetrical triangle has one trendline sloping down and one sloping up, so the name "symmetrical wedge" that some traders use for a symmetrical triangle does not match the shape of a true wedge.
A rising wedge is usually bearish and a falling wedge is usually bullish, so mistaking a wedge for a symmetrical triangle can put a trader on the wrong side of the expected breakout. The EUR/USD daily chart from September 2020 to January 2021 shows a rising wedge: both trendlines slope up, and price broke out downward in early January 2021, then reached the price target measured from the widest part in February 2021.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is a Symmetrical Triangle Pattern Bullish or Bearish?
A symmetrical triangle pattern is bullish when a candle closes above the upper trendline and bearish when a candle closes below the lower trendline. Before the breakout, a symmetrical triangle has no bias of its own, although the breakout follows the existing trend in most cases.
Can False Breakouts Occur in Symmetrical Triangle Patterns?
Yes, false breakouts are common in symmetrical triangle patterns. A false breakout happens when price moves outside a trendline and then returns inside the symmetrical triangle, so traders wait for a candle close, rising volume or a retest that holds before treating a symmetrical triangle breakout as valid.
How Do Symmetrical Triangles Differ From Ascending and Descending Triangles?
Symmetrical triangles have two sloping trendlines that converge from opposite directions, while ascending triangles have a flat upper trendline and descending triangles have a flat lower trendline. The flat trendline gives an ascending triangle a bullish bias and a descending triangle a bearish bias, whereas a symmetrical triangle shows its direction only at the breakout.
