Ascending Triangle
An ascending triangle forms when price repeatedly stalls at the same horizontal resistance while the lows step steadily higher. Buyers pay up sooner on each pullback while a fixed block of supply sits at the ceiling. That compression usually resolves in the direction of the rising lows.
- Bias
- Bullish
- Category
- Chart Patterns
- Scan cadence
- Every close
What has to be true for a Ascending Triangle to trigger
- A horizontal resistance level touched more than once
- A rising sequence of lows beneath it
- Lows tracking the rising support line tightly rather than scattering
- The formation spanning enough bars to be a triangle rather than noise
- Range narrowing as the two lines converge
How PatternGrade grades it
A flatter ceiling, more clearly rising lows that hug the fitted support line, and a longer formation raise the grade. Scattered lows or a sloping ceiling grade lower.
Every scanner grades its hits A+, A or B from the pattern's own measurable structure. The grading is deterministic — the same chart always produces the same grade. It describes how closely the chart matches the pattern, not how likely anything is to happen; no hit rate or probability is attached to a grade. The reasoning is set out in the methodology.
What a Ascending Triangle looks like in practice
A stock reaches $64 and stalls. Over the next nine weeks it tests $64 four times, failing each time, but the pullbacks get progressively shallower: first to $57, then $59, then $61, then $62.5. Drawing a line under the lows gives a clear rising floor against the flat $64 ceiling. Volume contracts steadily as the apex approaches.
How a Ascending Triangle fails
Price breaks down through the rising trendline instead of up through the ceiling. That is a genuine failure rather than a nuance: the entire premise is that buyers are getting more aggressive while sellers hold a fixed line, and a downside break says the opposite happened. A subtler failure is running out of room. If price reaches the apex without breaking either way, the compression has resolved into nothing and the pattern expires. Breaks that occur very close to the apex tend to be less decisive than those with room left.
What this pattern is telling you
Ascending triangles are conventionally bullish but break lower often enough that the direction should not be assumed before it happens.
PatternGrade is not a financial advisor and does not give buy or sell recommendations. Targets and stops shown on a pattern are reference levels derived from its geometry, not advice.
How to scan for Ascending Triangle setups
PatternGrade rescans every liquid US stock (~4,500 names) for this pattern after every close and returns the hits as a graded list, with the pattern drawn on each chart, so you review setups rather than hunt for them.
Join the waitlist to be invited when sign-ups reopen and see the current Ascending Triangle list, or browse all 75 patterns.
Ascending Triangle FAQ
Is an ascending triangle bullish?
Conventionally yes. Rising lows into flat resistance is read as accumulation. It is a tendency, not a rule.
Is an ascending triangle always bullish?
It is read as bullish because the rising lows suggest buyers stepping up while sellers hold a fixed price, and it does resolve upward more often than not. But 'more often than not' is not 'reliably'. Ascending triangles break down regularly, particularly in weak markets, and the rising trendline is the level that says so.
How many touches are needed?
At least two at the resistance line and two along the rising support, and three at each is stronger. Fewer than that and you are drawing lines through noise, which is the single most common way this pattern is mis-identified.
Where does the ascending triangle break out?
Conventionally on a close above the horizontal resistance, ideally on expanded volume. PatternGrade draws that level from the pattern's own geometry as a reference. A break on light volume is the classic false move.
What is the target on an ascending triangle?
The conventional measured move is the height of the triangle at its widest, projected up from the breakout. It is a geometric projection, not a prediction, and PatternGrade presents it as a reference level alongside the structural invalidation.
Patterns a Ascending Triangle is mistaken for
- Darvas Box
- A box has a flat floor as well as a flat ceiling. An ascending triangle's floor rises. If the lows are stepping up, it is a triangle.
- Symmetric Triangle
- A symmetrical triangle has both boundaries converging: falling highs and rising lows. An ascending triangle's ceiling is flat.
- Falling Wedge
- A falling wedge slopes down overall with both boundaries falling. An ascending triangle's resistance is horizontal and the structure trends sideways-to-up.
- Descending Triangle
- The mirror image: flat floor, falling ceiling, and a bearish reading. Which boundary is horizontal tells you which pattern you have.
Last reviewed . Structure and grading for the Ascending Triangle are reviewed against the scanner's own rules.