Chart Patterns are formations created by the price action on a chart. They are one of the pillars of Technical Analysis, along with indicators, candlestick patterns, and so on.
Some of the most popular Chart Patterns are available on TrendSpider! The platform can automatically paint them on the charts. One can scan for patterns — like "Find all the stocks from Russell 2K which have a Descending triangle on a Daily chart". One can also use Chart Patterns in Smart Checklists.
Our Chart Pattern recognition is focusing on actionable patterns only. Please be mindful of the following:
1. We do not display patterns in the past.
2. We discard:
- Ongoing patterns that do not seem to be respected by the price action anymore.
- Patterns that are in their very early stages of development.
- Patterns that have already "played out" shortly after the fact.
How to use Chart Patterns on TrendSpider
Think of our Chart Pattern detection as of your fellow advisor. In most cases, it will be perfectly right. Sometimes it won't. But it never can decide for you. You should make your own decisions anyway.
This means that a typical way for using Chart Patterns on TrendSpider is as follows:
- Scan to find charts with a given pattern emerging (or with price bouncing off it etc.).
- Select the charts which have formations you do agree with.
- Proceed with the analysis (or paint rays and create alerts e.t.c.)
Identifying chart patterns (just like identifying trends) is a discipline where there is room for being subjective. In some cases, one trader would insist that there's a triangle on a chart, and the other one won't agree.
In the end, what matters is not "whether you follow a definition strictly" (even if it exists). What matters is whether the pattern is being confirmed (or respected) by the price action. That's what we're using when identifying patterns. We use formal definitions, common sense, and a huge portion of additional logic and math atop them.
Important note on Chart Types: Consider using Chart Patterns on different chart types. Patterns identified on Heikin Ashi or a Line chart can be way cleaner and sometimes would give you signals you might otherwise miss.
Chart Patterns on Charts
In order to see Chart Patterns on Charts, you should click on a ... button next to the Chart Patterns in your top toolbar. Then, select the patterns you'd like to see. That's it!
Some of the Chart Patterns do have settings (just like some indicators do have input parameters). You can adjust them by clicking on ... button for the Chart Pattern in the Chart Key.
Scanning for Chart Patterns
You can scan for Chart Patterns, in any market, any chart type, and any time frame. For example, you can find all the charts which have bounced off a lower line of a Descending Triangle on a 1-hour chart.
Using Chart Patterns in scanning is pretty straightforward and is very similar to using Indicators. Besides scanning for particular interactions of price or pattern, you can scan for charts that have a recent relevant pattern irrelevant to what the last candle has formed. If you want to do so, you can arrange your criteria like Daily Triangle, Ascending Exists.
You can also scan for Indicators interacting with the Chart Patterns. For example, you can find all the charts where Bollinger Bands are squeezed into a symmetrical triangle.
Important note on scanning: when scanning for Chart Patterns, please enable the Current Candle checkbox in your scanner. Doing so will guarantee consistency between your charts and results of scanning.
Chart Patterns in Alerts and Strategy Tester
At this current stage, backtesting or alerts on Chart Patterns are not supported. You can work around the Alerts limitation by painting a Ray annotation atop of a pattern you like and then creating an alert on it.
Known limitations of Chart Patterns
A. Alerts and backtesting are not supported for Chart Patterns.
B. There could be false positives or false negatives in scanners if you're not using the "Current Candle" option.
C. Chart Patterns painted on charts do not respond to real-time updates (i.e., their lines do not extend)
D. If you open a chart after a period of time, a Chart Pattern which previously displayed might go away. That might happen if our logic decides that this Chart Pattern is not as relevant anymore as it used to be.
Chart Patterns supported on TrendSpider
Triangle, Ascending
An Ascending Triangle should be formed by a horizontal resistance level at the top and a diagonal trend line at the bottom left to the top right. We have allowed some horizontal lines to be slightly angled so as to identify additional triangles of decent quality.
Discarding stale patterns: We'll only detect Ascending Triangles that are either still forming or have "played out" recently. We discard Triangles which have a point where lines cross either too far in the future or too deep in the past.
Input parameters: Ascending Triangle has only one parameter: Time Span. This parameter can be either Short Term or Long Term. It regulates what kind of triangles should be displayed, by adjusting a number of low-level technical inputs for the Triangle Recognition logic (like the length of some Fractals and other indicators and so on). Please note that depending on a chart, both parameters might yield the same triangle (in case if it's so good that the math prefers it anyways).
Triangle, Descending
A Descending Triangle should be formed by a horizontal support level at the bottom and a diagonal trend line at the bottom left up to the top right. We have allowed some horizontal lines to be slightly angled so as to identify additional triangles of decent quality.
Discarding stale patterns: The same as for Ascending Triangle
Input parameters: The same as for Ascending Triangle
Triangle, Symmetrical
A Symmetrical Triangle should be formed by two diagonal trend lines, one from the top and one from the bottom. In our rules, we prefer triangles that are perfect (or "almost perfectly") symmetrical. Formations that look like a triangle, but are too far from being symmetrical are discarded.
Discarding stale patterns: The same as for Ascending Triangle
Input parameters: The same as for Ascending Triangle
Double Top
A Double Top is formed by the price action which moves up, then hits the price level above (top 1), bounces back (trough), and then hits approximately the same level again (top 2). In case, if after that the price action goes below the trough, this Double Top is considered to be confirmed.
Discarding stale patterns: We'll only detect Double Tops which are either fully formed (even if in the past) and were never invalidated the hard way or the ones which are currently evolving. We start identifying a Double Top as soon as the top 2 level is reached.
Input parameters:
- Retracement. Enabling this parameter adds Fibonacci Retracement lines based on a leg of the pattern (the one you select in the pattern settings dialog).
- Time Span. This parameter can be either Short Term or Long Term. It regulates what kind of patterns (bigger or smaller) should be preferred, by adjusting a number of low-level technical inputs for the Recognition logic.
- Type. This parameter can be either All or Confirmed. If set to Confrimed then all the patterns which have not been confirmed (see above) will be discarded. This parameter is especially useful for scanning.
- Max peak distance (2 parameters, ATR and Percentage). You can use these parameters to define how far your Tops can be from each other (in terms of price) in order for the formation to still be reliable for you. On every chart, our engine will find which distance (ATR or Percentage) is the smallest one at a given chart, and then it will discard all the Double Tops where Tops are further than this limit. I.e., if your Max peak dist, ATR is 2 and Max peak dist, % is 1, then our engine will compute 2xATR and 1% of the first Top of each formation, and then make sure that the second Top is never further than 2xATR and never further than 1% from the first Top.
Double Bottom
A vertically reversed version of a Double Top pattern.
Channel, Horizontal
A Horizontal Channel is formed by the price action which stays within a range for a while, bouncing up and down from horizontal (well, "almost horizontal") levels of support and resistance.
Discarding stale patterns: Channels are discarded after a while since price leaves the channel and goes too far from it. We allow for some price level violations in cases when they do not seem to change the principal picture. This means that sometimes you'd see us identifying channels which had been violated by some in the past. We still believe that these are legitimate channels, and we think so because we identify our channels by picking lines and levels price action still seems to respect. As long as the channel's line is respected by the price (never mind from which side) it will remain.
Input parameters:
- Time Span. This parameter can be either Short Term or Long Term. It regulates what kind of patterns (bigger or smaller, so to say) should be preferred, by adjusting a number of low-level technical inputs for the Recognition logic.
Channel, Ascending
An Ascending Channel is formed by the price action which stays within a range for a while, bouncing up and down from lines of support and resistance. Both of these lines are supposed to be nearly parallel and going upwards.
Discarding stale patterns: The same as for Horizontal Channel
Input parameters: The same as for Horizontal Channel
Channel, Descending
A Descending Channel is formed by the price action which stays within a range for a while, bouncing up and down from lines of support and resistance. Both of these lines are supposed to be nearly parallel and projected down.
Discarding stale patterns: The same as for Horizontal Channel
Input parameters: The same as for Horizontal Channel