Triangle Chart Pattern: Breakouts Before the Apex

What it shows

The upper and lower lines from the first swing to the breakout candle, a light fill between them, a "Triangle" label, and a dotted target line ending in a Target label.

How Pravex works it out

1. Only the newest 600 candles are searched. Each swing high is a candle whose high beats all 5 candles before it and is not topped by any of the 5 after it; a swing low is the same test upside down. That second half means a swing is confirmed 5 candles late. If two highs come back to back with no low between them, the lower one is dropped (for two lows, the higher one), so the swings always alternate.
2. Take five alternating swings in a row. The upper line joins the first and last high, the lower line joins the first and last low. One name covers all three classic shapes: symmetrical, ascending (flat top, rising floor) and descending (falling top, flat floor).
3. The upper line must be flat or falling and the lower line flat or rising, so they never open out. The channel at the last swing must be narrower than 80% of its width at the first. The middle swing must sit within the Middle swing tolerance share of the channel height from its own line. No close may go beyond a line by more than 2% of the end width.
4. Breakout: the first candle that closes outside either line, up to the point where the lines meet (the apex). If price runs past the apex without a close outside, the triangle is dropped. Target: the broken line at that candle, plus the starting width for an upside break or minus it for a downside break. Failure level: the opposite line’s price at that candle.
5. After the break the pattern carries a status. It reads Awaiting until something happens, Reached once a candle’s high or low gets to the target, Failed if the failure level is crossed before that, and Indefinable if one candle does both.

Settings

Setting	Default	What changing it does
Which patterns to keep	All	Filters the found patterns by status. All shows them all; Awaiting and Reached hides the ones that failed or were indefinable; Only Awaiting leaves just those still heading for their target; Last Awaiting leaves one, the Awaiting pattern that started most recently.
Where targets are drawn	Only Awaiting	Sets which patterns get their dotted target line and Target label: All, Only Awaiting, Awaiting and Reached, or None. Hiding a target does not hide its pattern.
Middle swing tolerance	15	How far the middle swing may sit from its boundary line, as a percent of the channel height at that point. Raise it to accept looser triangles. The 80% narrowing rule is fixed.
Show unconfirmed patterns	off	Off, the default, waits for a close through the breakout line before drawing anything. On draws shapes still waiting for that close, ending in a dotted leg, with the target they would get. That last point follows the most extreme price since the previous confirmed swing and moves while the candle is live.

How traders read it

The side a triangle breaks from is what people watch, since the squeeze means the range keeps shrinking. Pravex only accepts a break before the lines meet, so the apex is a deadline rather than a target.

Putting invented numbers in: the channel is 20 wide at the first swing and a candle closes above the upper line at 115 later on. The target is 115 plus 20, which is 135.

When it misleads

Five swings leave room for coincidence. With only two points defining each line, one extra swing changes both, so on small candles a few swings that happen to narrow can pass. A triangle that runs out of room before a close outside is dropped, so the chart never shows one that faded out at the apex. Only confirmed swings go into a pattern, yet a drawn one can still change. If a later swing of the same kind goes further, it takes the earlier swing’s place and the pattern moves or vanishes. A breakout on the live candle is also provisional until that candle closes.

Questions and answers

Does Pravex tell ascending, descending and symmetrical triangles apart?

No. They all draw as Triangle. The rule only needs a flat or falling upper line, a flat or rising lower line, and a channel that narrows to under 80% of its start.

Where is the triangle target?

The starting width of the channel, added above the upper line (or taken below the lower line) at the candle that closes outside it.

What happens if a triangle reaches its apex without a break?

It is dropped. Pravex only keeps triangles that break out before the two lines meet.

How narrow must the triangle become?

Its height at the last swing must be under 80% of its height at the first. That limit is fixed.

Related: Rectangle Chart Pattern, Falling Wedge Chart Pattern, Rising Wedge Chart Pattern, All Chart Patterns, every indicator.