Dictionary

Descending triangle

A flat support level with a falling series of highs above it, traditionally read as sellers becoming more aggressive.

Three triangles. Three ways a market can coil up: a flat ceiling with rising lows, a flat floor with falling highs, or both edges closing in on each other. The swings get smaller, and traders watch whichever edge price leaves first.

The mirror of ascending-triangle. Each rally stops lower while buyers keep defending the same floor. The conventional reading is that the floor eventually breaks.

In practice descending triangles in strong uptrends often resolve upward instead, because the flat floor is defended by real demand and the falling highs simply reflect a market compressing before continuing. The pattern's directional claim is much weaker than textbooks suggest.

Trading the resolution rather than the prediction avoids the argument. Mark both boundaries, wait for a close outside one of them, and accept whichever direction the market chose.

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