13.9%To entry+9.8%expected48.9%Hist. win rate
WDCLong
Symmetrical Triangle: Trading Either Breakout Direction
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.
What Is a Symmetrical Triangle Pattern?
A symmetrical triangle forms when successive highs fall and successive lows rise. Imagine highs near $54, $52 and $51, with intervening lows near $44, $46 and $48. These illustrative prices show the range narrowing from both sides.
Connect the highs and lows with separate trend lines. The upper line slopes down and the lower line slopes up. The name describes their convergence.
A triangle can develop without a sharp preceding move. A small version immediately following a sharp rally or decline may instead be classified as a pennant.
How to Spot a Symmetrical Triangle
Use these features to check the shape:
- Successive highs fall.
- Successive lows rise.
- Separate turning points help define each boundary.
- The lines converge while there is still room between them.
Check the full consolidation rather than selecting a few convenient turning points. Volume describes activity during the range, while the tested trade begins at its specified price trigger.
Symmetrical Triangle vs Pennant vs the Other Triangles
Compare the boundaries and the move preceding the consolidation to distinguish these related patterns.
A pennant requires a sharp preceding move and a small pause relative to that move.
An ascending triangle has a roughly horizontal upper boundary and rising lows.
A descending triangle has a roughly horizontal lower boundary and falling highs.
Is a Symmetrical Triangle Bullish or Bearish?
A symmetrical triangle supports two possible breakout plans. An upper trigger starts a long trade; a lower trigger starts a short trade. The narrowing shape alone gives no reason to assume which order will become eligible.
Both plans need exits. Even after price crosses a boundary, it can return through the triangle and move against the position.
Entry, Safety Exit and Target
The following steps describe TradingPal’s historical simulation. Choose each step on the diagram to see where the price level sits. The risk/reward guide explains how the distance from entry to the safety exit becomes the planned risk, or 1R.
1.Entry
The simulation uses an upward trigger above the upper boundary and a downward trigger below the lower boundary. The pattern must have been established on an earlier daily candle. The first eligible candle to reach the trigger can fill the order. If price gaps past it overnight, the simulation uses the worse opening price.
2.Safety exit
The planned invalidation level sits beyond the last dip for a long trade or the last bounce for a short trade. The test closes the trade at the close of a later daily candle beyond that level. Price can overshoot it or gap past it, so the actual loss can exceed the planned 1R.
3.Target and final exit
Measure the pattern’s height at its widest point and project that distance from the entry trigger in the direction of the trade. This is the measured-move target. The bearish rule closes at the downside target. For an upward break, reaching the target activates a trailing exit based on the 10-day moving average, the average of the last ten daily closing prices. The trade ends on a later close below that average.
The entry trigger sits beyond the breakout boundary. After prior-day establishment, the simulation uses the first eligible fill; a gap can produce a worse opening price.
Checks Before Using the Pattern
- Draw both boundaries from separate turning points and use a consistent convention for nearby prices.
- Check whether price has already reached the intersection of the lines or broken out and returned. Those events change the setup available to trade.
- Recalculate risk and potential reward if the entry price changes. A later entry can leave less distance to the target and more distance to the safety exit.
- Write down the exit rule before entering. The historical result assumes that rule was followed, including exits that lost more than the planned risk.
Historical Results for the Tested Rules
The table summarizes simulated trades using the entry and exit rules above. Check the direction, sample size and measurement period before comparing rows. These results update when a new historical run is published.
Read win rate together with the size of the wins and losses. A strategy can win half its trades and still gain or lose overall. Average R and profit factor help explain which happened; the track-record metrics guide covers the calculation.
The published pattern group includes shapes that passed later confirmation checks. That can affect which historical trades enter the sample, even when the simulated fill uses prices available at the time. The backtesting methodology explains this limitation and the portfolio assumptions.
Win rate
48.9%
Avg return per trade
+2.6%
+0.25R in risk units
Backtested trades
1,753
Profit factor
1.48
gross positive R ÷ absolute gross negative R
Historical results of the simulated strategy described above (2006-09-08 – 2026-09-09), refreshed nightly — not a prediction. How we test →
Winning and Losing Examples
The examples below are selected completed trades from the historical simulation. Compare the entry and exit in each, including the losing trades. Opening a symbol takes you to its current chart.
Selected for learning, with a mix of wins and losses where available. Closed in the 90 days ending Sep 11, 2026. This selection is not a win-rate sample.
AEOAmerican Eagle Outfitters
Losing trade · −14.4%
Opened Sep 4, 2026
Closed Sep 10, 2026
Open AEO’s live chart →
AFRMAffirm
Winning trade · +10.2%
Opened Aug 31, 2026
Closed Sep 10, 2026
Open AFRM’s live chart →
ASOAcademy Sports and Outdoors
Losing trade · −9.8%
Opened Aug 17, 2026
Closed Sep 10, 2026
Open ASO’s live chart →
CEGConstellation Energy
Winning trade · +2.9%
Opened Aug 6, 2026
Closed Sep 10, 2026
Open CEG’s live chart →
BBWIBath & Body Works
Losing trade · −17.5%
Opened Jun 18, 2026
Closed Sep 10, 2026
Open BBWI’s live chart →
ELSEquity Lifestyle Properties
Winning trade · +5.1%
Opened Aug 11, 2026
Closed Sep 10, 2026
Open ELS’s live chart →
Stocks with a Symmetrical Triangle Pattern Right Now
Our screener re-draws these lines on 2,600+ symbols every night. The current matches appear below.
80 fresh symmetrical triangles formed in the last 45 days across our growing universe of 2,600+ scanned symbols (90 charts tracked for this pattern in total). Scan updated Sep 11, 2026.
Live · from the latest scan on Sep 11, 2026
80 structures found. See example
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See the full offeringSymmetrical Triangle Pattern FAQ
Is a symmetrical triangle bullish or bearish?
It can break either way. The tested entry begins when price reaches the upward or downward trigger beyond the corresponding boundary.
What is the target for a symmetrical triangle?
Project its widest height from the entry trigger in the breakout direction. Bearish trades take that target; bullish trades use the moving-average exit after reaching it.
How does a symmetrical triangle differ from a pennant?
A pennant is a short pause after a sharp move. A symmetrical triangle can form without that move and may cover a longer consolidation.
How long does a symmetrical triangle take to form?
It needs distinct highs and lows to define its converging boundaries. On daily charts these can develop over weeks or months.
What confirms a symmetrical triangle breakout?
TradingPal uses a trigger beyond the relevant boundary after the pattern could be established on an earlier daily candle. An overnight gap uses the worse opening price in the simulation.
Keep Learning
Ascending Triangle
An ascending triangle combines repeated highs near one price with rising lows.
Read the guide →
Descending Triangle
A descending triangle combines repeated lows near one price with falling highs.
Read the guide →
Bullish Pennant
A bullish pennant forms when a sharp rally pauses in a small, narrowing range.
Read the guide →
Educational content, not investment advice. Backtest statistics are historical results of a simulated strategy, refreshed nightly — they describe the past, not the next trade.