Bearish pennant
Bearish
are continuation patterns that mark a pause in the movement of a halfway through a strong , offering you an opportunity to .They occur just after a sharp drop in price and resemble a triangular flag as the price moves sideways, making gradually lower highs and higher lows. The downtrend then continues with another similar-sized fall in price.
There are two types of pennant:
- Bearish pennant
- Bullish pennant
This lesson will show you how to identify the bearish pennant and look at ways you can use it to profit from the second half of a strong downtrend.
How to identify a bearish pennant
See the
below for an example of what a bearish pennant looks like:number_1 Pole of the pattern
As shown above, before the flag-like pennant forms, the price experiences a sharp drop. This is known as the pennant’s ‘pole.’
The pole can represent either the start or the continuation of a downtrend and its size is important when you are calculating where to place the
for your sell trade.The triangular pennant itself is usually very small in relation to the size of the overall downtrend so this pattern can be hard to spot.
How to trade the bearish pennant: method 1
The first method allows you to trade as soon as the price breaks out of the triangle pattern.
Enter your trade
your short trade as soon as a has closed below the pennant’s lower line.
See the chart below for an example of this:
number_1 Pole of the pattern
number_2 Area where price has broken the lower support of the pennant
es1 Sell order (short entry)
Place your stop loss
Place your
on the other side of the pennant, just above its upper trend line.See the chart below for an example of this:
number_1 Pole of the pattern
number_2 Area where price has broken the lower support of the pennant
es1 Sell order (short entry)
sl2 Stop loss
Place your profit target
Measure the initial drop in price (the pennant’s pole) before the
started to consolidate.Then place your profit target the same distance below the pennant’s
point.If, for example, the initial price drop was 50 pips in size, you should place your profit target 50
underneath your trade entry.See the chart below for an example of this:
number_1 Pole of the pattern
number_2 Area where price has broken the support of the pennant
number_3 Distance from entry to take profit (this is the same height as pole number_1)
es1 Sell order (short entry)
sl2 Stop loss
tp3 Take profit
Try the exercise below to practice placing your entry, stop loss and profit target using method 1:
How to trade the bearish pennant: method 2
Using the second method of trading, you wait until the price comes back to test the lower trend line as resistance before you enter.
Enter your trade
As with method 1, wait for the price to fall below the pennant’s lower trend line. Once this
has broken, place a sell order after the price retests that trend line – the broken support will now become a level.See the chart below for an example of this:
number_1 Pole of the pattern
number_2 Area where price has found resistance at the previous support line
es1 Sell order (short entry)
Place your stop loss
Place your stop loss above the new resistance area.
See the chart below for an example of this:
number_1 Pole of the pattern
number_2 Area where price has found resistance at the previous support line
es1 Sell order (short entry)
sl2 Stop loss
Place your profit target
As with method 1, measure the size of the pennant’s pole.
Then place your profit target an equal distance below the pennant’s breakout (where you entered the trade).
See the chart below for an example of this:
number_1 Pole of the pattern
number_2 Area where price has found resistance at the previous support line
number_3 Distance between entry and take profit tp3 (this is the same height as pole number_1)
es1 Sell order (short entry)
sl2 Stop loss
tp3 Take profit
Bullish pennant
A bullish
is the exact opposite of a bearish penant.It is a continuation pattern that marks a pause in the movement of a
halfway through a strong , giving you an opportunity to and profit from the rest of the price rise.Bullish pennants occur just after a sharp rise in price and resemble a triangular flag as the price moves sideways, making gradually lower highs and higher lows. The uptrend then continues with another similar-sized rise in price.
This lesson will show you how to identify the bullish pennant and look at ways you can use it to profit from the second half of a strong uptrend.
How to identify a bullish pennant
See the
below to see what a bullish pennant looks like:number_1 Pole of the pattern
As shown above, before the flag-like pennant forms, the price experiences a sharp rise. This is known as the pennant’s ‘pole’.
The pole can represent either the start or the continuation of an uptrend and its size is important when you are calculating where to place the
for your buy trade.The triangular pennant itself is usually very small in relation to the size of the overall uptrend so this pattern can be hard to spot. With practice however, you will learn when to look out for it and how to recognise it.
How to trade the bullish pennant: method 1
We will now show you two methods how to trade the bullish pennant.
Enter your trade
your long trade as soon as a has closed above the pennant’s upper line.
See the chart below for an example of this:
number_1 Pole of the pattern
el1 Buy order (long entry)
Place your stop loss
Place your
on the other side of the pennant, just below its lower trend line.See the chart below for an example of this:
number_1 Pole of the pattern
el1 Buy order (long entry)
sl2 Stop loss
Place your profit target
Measure the initial rise in price (the pennant’s pole) before the
started to consolidate.Then place your profit target the same distance above the pennant’s
point.If, for example, the initial price rise was 50 pips in size, you should place your profit target 50
above your trade entry.See the chart below for an example of this:
number_1 Pole of the pattern
number_2 Profit target distance (same height as the pole number_1)
el1 Buy order (long entry)
sl2 Stop loss
tp3 Take profit
Try the exercise below to practice placing your trade’s entry, stop loss and profit target under method 1:
How to trade the bullish pennant: method 2
We will now show you a second method of trading the bullish pennant.
Enter your trade
As with method 1, wait for the price to rise above the pennant’s upper trend line. Once this
has broken, place a buy order as soon as the price retests that trend line – the broken resistance will now become a level.See the chart below for an example of this:
number_1 Pole of the pattern
number_2 Area where the resistance line has turned into support
el1 Buy order (long entry), after the price has bounced off the trend line
Place your stop loss
Place your stop loss below the new support area.
See the chart below for an example of this:
number_1 Pole of the pattern
number_2 Area where the resistance line has turned into support
el1 Buy order (long entry), after the price has bounced off the trend line
sl2 Stop loss underneath the new support area
Place your profit target
As with method 1, measure the size of the pennant’s pole.
Then place your profit target an equal distance above the pennant’s
(where you entered the trade).See the chart below for an example of this:
number_1 Pole of the pattern
number_2 Area where the resistance line has turned into support
number_3 Take profit distance (same height as pole number_1)
el1 Long entry, after the price has bounced off the trend line
sl2 Stop loss underneath the new support area
tp3 Take profit level