Ascending triangle

What it is

An ascending triangle has a flat resistance line on top and a rising support line underneath. Price bounces between them in a narrowing range. It is usually treated as a continuation pattern in an uptrend, and it completes when price closes above resistance.

Why it forms

Sellers are defending a specific price — perhaps a previous high or a round number. Buyers keep testing it. On every pullback, buyers step in sooner, at a higher price than last time. That is what the rising lows show.

Each test of resistance uses up some of the supply sitting there. Eventually the sellers at that level are exhausted, and price breaks through.

How to identify it

• At least two touches of a roughly flat resistance.
• At least two higher lows forming a rising support line.
• A narrowing range as the lines converge.
• Volume often contracting during the pattern and expanding on the breakout.

What confirms it

A candle close above the flat resistance, preferably on higher volume. A retest of the old resistance from above, holding as support, strengthens the case.

What invalidates it

• A close below the rising support line.
• Repeated false breaks above resistance that immediately close back inside.

Common mistakes

• Drawing it with one touch. Two or more touches on each line make it meaningful.
• Acting on a wick. A spike through resistance that closes back inside is not a breakout.
• Waiting until the apex. Breakouts very close to the tip of the triangle often have less follow-through.
• Treating the measured move as a target. It is a reference, not a prediction.