Learn Chart Patterns and Trading Strategies

Learn how to recognize patterns, plan a trade and read historical results. TradingPal scans defined setups across 2,600+ symbols.

Original Research

Trading questions, tested against historical data and explained in plain English. Read the findings, the methods and the limits.

Illustrative comparison of pennant price pauses with fewer and more boundary contacts. Neither drawing shows the outcome.

Original research · September 10, 2026

Do more touches make a bullish pennant a better trade?

Extra touches did not improve the average trade. The four-touch group came out ahead.

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Illustrative breakout path with an earlier and later entry above the same fixed stop reference.

Original research · September 10, 2026

Why buying a breakout late can erase most of the reward

In the fast-moving group, buying later kept much less reward while increasing the risk.

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Chart Pattern Guides

Learn how to spot and trade pennants, triangles, and wedges using tested entry, exit, and target rules.

Counts and win rates use the latest completed nightly artifact.

Bullish Pennant

A bullish pennant forms when a sharp rally pauses in a small, narrowing range. The guide follows that pause through the entry, exit rules and historical results of a breakout trade.

54% win rate86 formed recently

Bearish Pennant

A bearish pennant is a narrowing pause after a sharp decline. Learn to identify it, understand a short trade through its lower boundary, and assess the historical results.

0 formed recently

Ascending Triangle

An ascending triangle combines repeated highs near one price with rising lows. Follow an example from drawing the boundaries to planning a breakout and reading the historical results.

49% win rate19 formed recently

Descending Triangle

A descending triangle combines repeated lows near one price with falling highs. Learn what those boundaries show, how a downside trade is defined and what its historical record measures.

49% win rate6 formed recently

Symmetrical Triangle

A symmetrical triangle forms as highs fall and lows rise. Learn to draw its boundaries, define a trade in either direction and compare the resulting historical records.

49% win rate80 formed recently

Falling Wedge

A falling wedge has two downward-sloping boundaries that draw closer together. Learn why traders watch its upper boundary, how the trade works and how to assess its historical results.

44% win rate60 formed recently

Rising Wedge

A rising wedge has two upward-sloping boundaries that draw closer together. Learn what the narrowing range shows, how a downside trade is defined and what its historical record measures.

52% win rate9 formed recently

Nightly backtest

Which chart patterns actually work?

Pattern	Usual break	Win rate	Avg return	Backtested trades	Fresh (45d)
Bullish Pennant	Up	54.5%	+3.6%	6,817	86
Bearish Pennant	Down	—	—	—	0
Ascending Triangle	Up	48.9%	+2.6%	1,753	19
Descending Triangle	Down	48.9%	+2.6%	1,753	6
Symmetrical Triangle	Either way	48.9%	+2.6%	1,753	80
Falling Wedge	Up	44.3%	+2.9%	1,149	60
Rising Wedge	Down	52.0%	+1.6%	390	9

How we run this test →

Trendline, Support and Resistance Trading Guides

Start with trend line, support and Fibonacci basics, then build a complete strategy with defined entries, stops, exits and historical results.

Illustrative trend line: a straight boundary connects rising price lows and extends forward.

Trend Line Basics

A trend line joins earlier turning points on a chart. Learn how to draw one consistently, interpret later touches and judge what the drawing can tell you.

Support and Resistance

Support and resistance mark areas where earlier declines or rallies stopped. A price example shows how to identify those areas, interpret a crossing and define a trade around them.

Illustrative Fibonacci study: a measured price swing sits beside retracement and extension levels.

Fibonacci Levels

Fibonacci tools divide an earlier price move into percentage levels. Use a $100-to-$120 example to calculate retracements and extensions, choose anchors consistently and interpret overlapping levels.

Illustrative trendline strategy: a price path passes through distinct decision checkpoints.

Trendline Trading Strategy

A trendline trade needs rules for choosing the line, entering, sizing the position and exiting. Follow those decisions in order, then compare the plan with the historical record.

Buy at Support

Buy at Support uses a planned entry above a qualifying support line on weekly or monthly charts. Learn how the line, safety exit and target determine the position and its holding period.

Short at Resistance

Short at Resistance tests ETF trades near weekly or monthly resistance. The entry sits below the line, the safety exit above it, and the cover rule determines when the position closes.

How TradingPal Compares

Compare screening, chart tools, backtesting, free access and pricing across Finviz, TradingView, TrendSpider and TradingPal.

Each comparison follows the work involved in finding candidates and evaluating a trading rule.

Illustrative comparison of broad market filtering and focused chart research.

TradingPal vs Finviz

Compare company and market filters with predefined technical setups and their historical records.

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Illustrative comparison of open chart analysis tools and a focused annotated setup.

TradingPal vs TradingView

Compare custom chart and strategy tools with the historical records of TradingPal’s defined setups.

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Illustrative comparison of three approaches to chart analysis and systematic research.

TrendSpider vs TradingView

Compare how the platforms define trading rules, test them and present their results.

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Trading by the Numbers: Win Rate, Risk/Reward & Backtesting

Learn how win rate, profit factor, risk/reward, and average return in R reveal whether a systematic trading strategy works.

Illustrative risk and reward: one unit of planned loss is compared with two units of potential gain from a shared baseline.

Risk/Reward & R-Multiples

A trade’s entry, safety exit and target let you compare its planned loss with its potential gain. We’ll use one $100 stock example to calculate that ratio, size the position and measure the eventual result.

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Illustrative comparison of the frequency and size of winning and losing trades.

Track Record Metrics

A track record describes trade outcomes, account growth and the losses along the way. We’ll work through the metrics in that order, then check the sample and assumptions behind them.

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Illustrative historical replay: an observation boundary separates the known price path from the unknown future.

What Is Backtesting?

Backtesting applies a trading rule to historical prices and records the simulated outcomes. A worked example shows how to build the test, read its results and recognize the assumptions that could make it too optimistic.

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Illustrative research process: separate testing windows and multiple possible outcomes.

How TradingPal Backtests

A setup’s trade history and an account’s return answer different questions. This guide follows the calculation from a historical signal to a limited-capital portfolio, including allocation, costs and the gaps between simulation and live trading.

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Chart patterns cheat sheet (PDF)

All seven patterns on one printable page — the shape, the usual break direction, and the entry / safety-exit / target rules. Free download.

Download the PDF

Educational content, not investment advice. Backtest statistics are historical results of a simulated strategy — they describe the past, not the next trade.