
To find patterns, we simply iterate over all our min max points, and find windows where the points meet some pattern criteria. For example, an inverse head and shoulders can roughly be defined as: C < A, B, D, E
Full Answer
What are stock chart patterns and how to use them?
Stock chart patterns are lines and shapes drawn onto price charts in order to help predict forthcoming price actions, such as breakouts and reversals. They are a fundamental technical analysis technique that helps traders use past price actions as a guide for potential future market movements.
How do you find a good chart pattern?
There are really 3 major things that can be applied to any chart pattern: The first step is to assess the size and quality of the chart pattern relative to surrounding price action The second step is the location of the chart pattern.
How do you find patterns in statistics?
To find patterns, we simply iterate over all our min max points, and find windows where the points meet some pattern criteria. For example, an inverse head and shoulders can roughly be defined as: To filter for head and shoulders with even necklines:
Where can I find new articles on chart pattern trading strategy?
Our team at Trading Strategy Guides is launching a new series of articles. They can be found in Chart Pattern Trading Strategy Step-by-Step Guide. These articles will enhance and elevate your trading to a new level.

How do you find the pattern of a chart?
1:303:31How to find Chart Patterns - in 3 minutes (for beginners) - YouTubeYouTubeStart of suggested clipEnd of suggested clipFirst of all try to draw in order to simplify the market and understand the structure better try toMoreFirst of all try to draw in order to simplify the market and understand the structure better try to join higher high with higher low in an uptrend. And lower high with lower low in a downtrend.
How do you find the pattern of a stock?
A pattern is identified by a line that connects common price points, such as closing prices or highs or lows, during a specific period of time. Technical analysts and chartists seek to identify patterns as a way to anticipate the future direction of a security's price.
Do stock charts have patterns?
Stock chart patterns are lines and shapes drawn onto price charts in order to help predict forthcoming price actions, such as breakouts and reversals. They are a fundamental technical analysis technique that helps traders use past price actions as a guide for potential future market movements.
How does Python determine head and shoulders pattern?
0:0015:33Head And Shoulders Candles Pattern Automated In Python - YouTubeYouTubeStart of suggested clipEnd of suggested clipAnd see how to write all of it in python the jupiter notebook file containing the source code isMoreAnd see how to write all of it in python the jupiter notebook file containing the source code is available for download from the link in the description of this video.
How do you identify flag patterns?
0:312:40How to Use Bull Flag Entries and Price Targets - YouTubeYouTubeStart of suggested clipEnd of suggested clipThe pattern begins when a stock's price rises from a low point to a high point or in other wordsMoreThe pattern begins when a stock's price rises from a low point to a high point or in other words from the bottom of a support area to the top of a resistance area the initial movement represents.
How do I know my breakout pattern?
The first step in trading breakouts is to identify current price trend patterns along with support and resistance levels in order to plan possible entry and exit points. Once you've acted on a breakout strategy, know when to cut your losses and re-assess the situation if the breakout sputters.
How do you read stock chart patterns?
The guidelines for entering a position on a breakout/ breakdown are simple: Enter long if the price moves through the resistance line (break out-Buy). Enter short if the price moves through the support line (break down-Short). When a breakout does occur, the pattern provides an entry point and stop loss for the trade.
What are the most accurate chart patterns?
The head and shoulders patterns are statistically the most accurate of the price action patterns, reaching their projected target almost 85% of the time. The regular head and shoulders pattern is defined by two swing highs (the shoulders) with a higher high (the head) between them.
Where can I find head and shoulders pattern?
How to identify Head and Shoulders Patterns on Forex & Stock ChartsIdentify the overall market trend using price action and technical indicators (preceding uptrend)Isolate the Head and Shoulders chart construction.The distance between the 'Head' and 'Shoulders' should be as close to equidistant as possible.More items...•
What is pattern recognition in Python?
Pattern recognition is the process of recognizing patterns by using a machine learning algorithm. Pattern recognition can be defined as the classification of data based on knowledge already gained or on statistical information extracted from patterns and/or their representation.
Does head and shoulders work on RSI?
One of many chart patterns is the simple head and shoulders pattern. This is a price action reversal pattern that can precede big moves and can also be applied to the RSI. The rules for entering off patterns on RSI are the same as price action patterns.
What is Talib in Python?
About. This is a Python wrapper for TA-LIB based on Cython instead of SWIG. From the homepage: TA-Lib is widely used by trading software developers requiring to perform technical analysis of financial market data. Includes 150+ indicators such as ADX, MACD, RSI, Stochastic, Bollinger Bands, etc.
Find the Minama and Maxima
Chart patterns can be determined from local minima and maxima. From a technical analysis perspective, this is really just the highs and the lows.
Smoothing the Noise
In the paper, Andrew Lo uses smoothing and non-parametric kernel regression with the idea of reducing the noise in the price action. Don’t worry, we’ll dig into what non-parametric kernel regression is in a minute. For now, let’s smooth out Apple’s prices. We’ll use pandas.series.rolling for this purpose using a window of 2.
Pattern Identification
I will use the pattern definitions from Foundations of Technical Analysis. The code is largely taken from the Quantopian post mentioned earlier with a few adjustments to fit my needs.
Creating a Backtrader Indicator
While I’ve already created a Backtrader Backtesting Quickstart, I thought it might be nice to demonstrate how to take some of the above code and turn it into an indicator.
Wrapping Up
It does appear that certain technical patterns have predictive power. We can use code to detect these patterns and exploit them on multiple timeframes. As always, the code can be found on GitHub.
What is a stock chart pattern?
Stock chart patterns are an important trading tool that should be utilised as part of your technical analysis strategy. From beginners to professionals, chart patterns play an integral part when looking for market trends and predicting movements. They can be used to analyse all markets including forex, shares, commodities and more.
How do chart patterns work?
Chart patterns work by representing the market’s supply and demand. This causes the trend to move in a certain way on a trading chart, forming a pattern. However, chart pattern movements are not guaranteed, and should be used alongside other methods of market analysis.
What does it mean when two trend lines meet?
For symmetrical triangles, two trend lines start to meet which signifies a breakout in either direction. The support line is drawn with an upward trend, and the resistance line is drawn with a downward trend. Even though the breakout can happen in either direction, it often follows the general trend of the market.
What does the cup and handle mean on a stock chart?
The cup and handle is a well-known continuation stock chart pattern that signals a bullish market trend. It is the same as the above rounding bottom, but features a handle after the rounding bottom. The handle resembles a flag or pennant, and once completed, you can see the market breakout in a bullish upwards trend.
What is the head and shoulders pattern?
The head and shoulders pattern tries to predict a bull to bear market reversal. Characterised by a large peak with two smaller peaks either side, all three levels fall back to the same support level. The trend is then likely to breakout in a downward motion.
Why do we use chart patterns?
They can be used to analyse all markets including forex, shares, commodities and more. Trading chart patterns often form shapes, which can help predetermine price action , such as stock breakouts and reversals. Recognising chart patterns will help you gain a competitive advantage in the market, and using them will increase the value ...
Does a wedge have a horizontal trend line?
Unlike the triangle, the wedge doesn’t have a horizontal trend line and is characterised by either two upward trend lines or two downward trend lines. For a downward wedge, it is thought that the price will break through the resistance and for an upward wedge, the price is hypothesised to break through the support.
What is stock chart pattern?
Stock chart patterns, when identified correctly, can be used to identify a consolidation in the market, often leading to a likely continuation or reversal trend. Traders may use these trendlines to forecast price patterns that can be traded for profit.
What is technical analysis?
Technical analysis is one of the best tools traders can use to spot shifts within the market, allowing them to predict support and resistance levels within a predictable timeframe. There are many different continuation and reversal patterns to look out for when reading the stock charts.
What is chart pattern?
In technical analysis, chart patterns are price formations represented in a graphical way. Without a doubt, this is one of the most useful tools when performing technical analysis of price charts. Chart patterns are a very popular way to trade any kind of market.
Why are there no magic bullets in chart pattern trading?
When it comes to chart pattern trading strategy, there are no magic bullets. This is because you’re going to make mistakes. Secondly, you’ll still be having losing trades. The whole idea is to become selective on the chart patterns you trade.

Defining Technical Chart Patterns Programmatically
Step 1.) Read in Data
- I’m reading in data using the AlpacaAPI (which I’ll also use to place trades later). I wrote this function to grab data beyond the one request limit of 2,000 minute bars. Later we’ll resample to our timeframe of choice. We’ll resample data separately, in case we want to try out different timeframes later.
Step 2.) Find Minima and Maxima
- For this step we’ll use a function from scipy’s signal processing library to find peaks in the data. This code looks complicated, but the point is to return the integer index values with price, for each min/max point. Let’s plot it with the resampled price data to visually confirm we’re on the right track.
Step 4.) Reorganize and Iterate to Find Best params
- In order to find the best params, I reorganized my code into functions and iterated through multiple stocks, smoothing, and window parameters. Run the above like so: Now we can see how our timeframes, patterns, and params are playing out!
Step 5.) Go Live!
- To use this live, I made the following changes to screener(): And ran like so: Finding the right params for your pattern to play out may take experimentation. See the results() function in the notebook to confirm whether your patterns have a positive edge or not.
Find The Minama and Maxima
Smoothing The Noise
- In the paper, Andrew Lo uses smoothing and non-parametric kernel regression with the idea of reducing the noise in the price action. Don’t worry, we’ll dig into what non-parametric kernel regression is in a minute. For now, let’s smooth out Apple’s prices. We’ll usepandas.series.rollingfor this purpose using a window of 2. Notice how the graph becomes s…
Pattern Identification
- I will use the pattern definitions fromthe paper. The code is largely taken from the Quantopian post mentioned earlier with a few adjustments to fit my needs. It looks like Apple’s prices contained both a broadening top and bottom. While having a small amount of data made things easier to see at first, let’s up the ante and detect the patterns within ten years of Google price da…
The Bottom Line
- It does appear that certain technical patterns have predictive power. We can use code to detect these patterns and exploit them on multiple timeframes. As always, the code can be found on GitHub.