What Is an Ascending Triangle?

An ascending triangle is a chart pattern used in technical analysis. It is created by price moves that allow for a horizontal line to be drawn along the swing highs and a rising trendline to be drawn along the swing lows. The two lines form a triangle. Traders often watch for breakouts from triangle patterns. The breakout can occur to the upside or downside.

Ascending triangles are often called continuation patterns since price will typically break out in the same direction as the trend that was in place just prior to the triangle forming.

An ascending triangle is tradable in that it provides a clear entry point, profit target, and stop-loss level. It may be contrasted with a descending triangle.

What Does the Ascending Triangle Tell You?

An ascending triangle is generally considered to be a continuation pattern, meaning that the pattern is significant if it occurs within an uptrend or downtrend. Once the breakout from the triangle occurs, traders tend to aggressively buy or sell the asset depending on which direction the price broke out.

Increasing volume helps to confirm the breakout, as it shows rising interest as the price moves out of the pattern.

A minimum of two swing highs and two swing lows are required to form the ascending triangle’s trendlines. But a greater number of trendline touches tends to produce more reliable trading results. Since the trendlines are converging on one another, if the price continues to move within a triangle for multiple swings, the price action becomes more coiled, likely leading to a stronger eventual breakout.

Volume tends to be stronger during trending periods than during consolidation periods. A triangle is a type of consolidation, and therefore volume tends to contract during an ascending triangle. As mentioned, traders look for volume to increase on a breakout, as this helps confirm the price is likely to keep heading in the breakout direction. If the price breaks out on low volume, that is a warning sign that the breakout lacks strength. This could mean the price will move back into the pattern. This is called a false breakout.

For trading purposes, an entry is typically taken when the price breaks out. Buy if the breakout occurs to the upside, or short/sell if a breakout occurs to the downside. A stop loss is placed just outside the opposite side of the pattern. For example, if a long trade is taken on an upside breakout, a stop loss is placed just below the lower trendline.

A profit target can be estimated based on the height of the triangle added or subtracted from the breakout price. The thickest part of the triangle is used. If the triangle is $5 high, add $5 to the upside breakout point to get the price target. If the price breaks lower, the profit target is the breakout point less $5.

Example of How to Interpret the Ascending Triangle

Here an ascending triangle forms during a downtrend, and the price continues lower following the breakout. Once the breakout occurred, the profit target was attained. The short entry or sell signal occurred when the price broke below the lower trendline. A stop loss could be placed just above the upper trendline.

Wide patterns like this present a higher risk/reward than patterns that get substantially narrower as time goes on. As a pattern narrows, the stop loss becomes smaller since the distance to the breakout point is smaller, yet the profit target is still based on the largest part of the pattern.

The Difference Between an Ascending Triangle and a Descending Triangle

These two types of triangles are both continuation patterns, except they have a different look. The descending triangle has a horizontal lower line, while the upper trendline is descending. This is the opposite of the ascending triangle, which has a rising lower trendline and a horizontal upper trendline.

Limitations of Trading the Ascending Triangle

The main problem with triangles, and chart patterns in general, is the potential for false breakouts. The price may move out of the pattern only to move back into it, or the price may even proceed to break out the other side. A pattern may need to be redrawn several times as the price edges past the trendlines but fails to generate any momentum in the breakout direction.

While ascending triangles provide a profit target, that target is just an estimate. The price may far exceed that target, or fail to reach it.

Psychology of the Ascending Triangle

Like other chart patterns, ascending triangles indicate the psychology of the market participants underlying the price action. In this case, buyers repeatedly drive the price higher until it reaches the horizontal line at the top of the ascending triangle. The horizontal line represents a level of resistance—the point where sellers step in to return the price to lower levels.

As the price drops downward from the horizontal resistance level, buyers begin to show their resolve, and the price fails to reach the recent low, with the trend turning upward once again at a higher swing low. In other words, the upward-sloping trendline that forms the lower boundary of the ascending triangle is acting as support—the level where buyers jump in and prevent the price from falling any lower.

In a well-defined ascending triangle pattern, the price bounces between the horizontal resistance line and the lower trendline. The lines of the triangle eventually converge, setting the stage for a showdown between upward and downward pressure that could determine which direction the price will move out of the pattern. As it approaches the vertex of the triangle, the price will either break out above the resistance level, suggesting additional gains ahead, or it will fall below the support level, increasing the likelihood that the price will decline.

The Bottom Line

An ascending triangle is a technical analysis chart pattern that occurs when the price of an asset fluctuates between a horizontal upper trendline and an upward-sloping lower trendline. Since the price has a tendency to break out in the same direction as the trend in place before the formation of the triangle, ascending triangles are often called continuation patterns. Traders often wait for the price to break above or below the pattern before entering a position. The ascending triangle pattern is particularly useful for traders because it suggests a clear entry point, profit target, and stop-loss level.

What Is Antitrust?

Antitrust laws are regulations that encourage competition by limiting the market power of any particular firm. This often involves ensuring that mergers and acquisitions don’t overly concentrate market power or form monopolies, as well as breaking up firms that have become monopolies.

Antitrust laws also prevent multiple firms from colluding or forming a cartel to limit competition through practices such as price fixing. Due to the complexity of deciding what practices will limit competition, antitrust law has become a distinct legal specialization.

Understanding Antitrust

Antitrust laws are the broad group of state and federal laws that are designed to make sure businesses are competing fairly. The “trust” in antitrust refers to a group of businesses that team up or form a monopoly to dictate pricing in a particular market.

Supporters say antitrust laws are necessary and that competition among sellers gives consumers lower prices, higher-quality products and services, more choices, and greater innovation. Most people agree with this concept and the benefits of an open marketplace, although there are some who claim that allowing businesses to compete as they see fit would ultimately give consumers the best prices.

The Antitrust Laws

The Sherman Act, the Federal Trade Commission Act, and the Clayton Act are the key laws that set the groundwork for antitrust regulation. Predating the Sherman Act, the Interstate Commerce Act was also beneficial in establishing antitrust regulations, although it was less influential than some of the others.

Congress passed the Interstate Commerce Act in 1887 in response to growing public demand that railroads be regulated. Among other requirements, the law ordered railroads to charge a fair fee to travelers and post those fees publicly. It was the first example of antitrust law but was less influential than the Sherman Act, passed in 1890.

The Sherman Act outlawed contracts and conspiracies restraining trade and/or monopolizing industries in an attempt to stop competing individuals or businesses fixing prices, dividing markets, or attempting to rig bids. The Sherman Act laid out specific penalties and fines for violating the terms.

In 1914, Congress passed the Federal Trade Commission Act, banning unfair competition methods and deceptive acts or practices. The Clayton Act was also passed in 1914, addressing specific practices that the Sherman Act does not ban. For example, the Clayton Act prohibits appointing the same person to make business decisions for competing corporations.

Special Considerations

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) are tasked with enforcing federal antitrust laws. In some cases, these two authorities may also work with other regulatory agencies to ensure that certain mergers fit the public interest.

The FTC mainly focuses on segments of the economy where consumer spending is high, including healthcare, drugs, food, energy, technology, and anything related to digital communications. Factors that could spark an FTC investigation include premerger notification filings, certain consumer or business correspondence, congressional inquiries, or articles on consumer or economic subjects.

If the FTC thinks that a law has been violated, the agency will try to stop the questionable practices or find a resolution to the anticompetitive portion of, say, a proposed merger between two competitors. If no resolution is found, the FTC may put out an administrative complaint and/or pursue injunctive relief in federal court.

The FTC might also refer evidence of criminal antitrust violations to the DOJ. The DOJ has the power to impose criminal sanctions and holds sole antitrust jurisdiction in certain sectors, such as telecommunications, banks, railroads, and airlines.

Major Example of Antitrust Law

In January 2023, the DOJ and eight states filed an antitrust lawsuit against Alphabet’s Google, alleging that the search giant has illegal monopolization of the digital advertising business. “Today’s complaint alleges that Google has used anticompetitive, exclusionary, and unlawful conduct to eliminate or severely diminish any threat to its dominance over digital advertising technologies,” the government agency said.

The filing, which seeks to make Google divest parts of its advertising business, alleges that the company has used acquisitions as a strategy for “neutralizing or eliminating” rivals and forces advertisers to use its products by making competitors’ products difficult to use. The complaint claims that the company’s monopolistic practices curtail innovation, raise advertising fees, and prevent small businesses and publishers from growing.

Google’s advertising business has come under fire from critics who argue that the search giant controls both the supply and demand sides of the digital advertising market. The company provides tools that help websites offer ad space and that assist advertisers in placing online ads. The suit alleges that Google’s dominance in the market allows it to pocket 30 cents of each dollar that advertisers spend using its suite of advertising tools.

The lawsuit marks the second federal antitrust complaint against Google in three years. Under the former Trump administration, the DOJ filed a lawsuit in October 2020, accusing the tech giant of using its monopoly to reduce competition through exclusionary agreements. That case is expected to go to trial this fall.

Google responded to the suit, saying the DOJ was attempting to intervene in the free market. “Today’s lawsuit from the Department of Justice attempts to pick winners and losers in the highly competitive advertising technology sector,” Google Global Ads Vice President Dan Taylor said in a statement.

The Bottom Line

Antitrust laws regulate the concentration of economic power to prevent companies from price colluding or creating monopolies. Proponents of antitrust laws argue that they keep consumer prices lower and foster innovation through increased competition. Critics say antitrust regulations intervene in the free market and reduce efficiency.

Antitrust laws are enforced by the FTC and DOJ, with the agencies focusing on areas of the economy that receive significant consumer spending, such as technology, healthcare, pharmaceuticals, and communications. Typically, antitrust investigations arise from premerger notification filings, congressional inquiries, or consumer and business correspondence.

What Is After-Hours Trading?

After-hours trading is securities trading that starts at 4 p.m. U.S. Eastern Time after the major U.S. stock exchanges close. The after-hours trading session can run as late as 8 p.m., though volume typically thins out much earlier in the session. Trading in the after hours is conducted through electronic communication networks (ECNs).

Understanding After-Hours Trading

Traders and investors engage in after-hours trading for a variety of reasons. They may prefer trading with fewer market participants or their schedules may require it. They may want to take positions as a result of news that breaks after the close of the stock exchange. Or, they may want to close out a position before they leave on vacation.

Generally, after-hours trading refers to trading that takes place after normal market hours and up until about 8 pm. Premarket trading refers to trading that takes place before the start of normal market hours, generally from 7 a.m. until 9:25 a.m. Together, after-hours trading and premarket trading are referred to as extended-hours trading.

The precise times of extended-hours trading can depend on the ECN an investor uses or the financial institution where they place their orders. For instance, Wells Fargo allows after-hours trading from 4:05 p.m. ET until just 5 p.m.

Electronic markets (or ECNs) used in after-hours trading automatically attempt to match up buy and sell orders. If they can do so, trades are completed. If they can’t, trades remain unfilled.

After-hours trading typically only allows limit orders to buy, sell, or short, although a particular brokerage may be less restrictive. No stop, stop-limit, or orders with special instructions (such as fill or kill or all or none) are accepted. Moreover, orders are normally only good for the after-hours trading session in which they’re placed.

The maximum share amount per order is 25,000.

Quotes provided are limited to those available through the electronic market used. Investors may have access to other participating ECNs but it isn’t guaranteed.

Volume

In after-hours trading, the trading volume for a stock may spike on the initial release of news but most of the time thins out as the session progresses. The growth of volume generally slows significantly by 6 p.m. So, there is a substantial risk that investors will be trading illiquid stocks after-hours. 

Price

Not only does volume sometimes come at a premium in the after-hours trading sessions, so does price. It is not unusual for the spreads to be wide in the after-hours. The spread is the difference between the bid and the ask prices. Due to fewer shares trading, the spread may be significantly wider than during the normal trading session.

Participation

If liquidity and prices weren’t enough to make after-hours trading risky, the lack of participants may do the trick. That’s why certain investors and institutions may choose not to participate in after-hours trading, regardless of news or events.

It’s quite possible for a stock to fall sharply in the after hours only to rise once the regular trading session resumes the next day at 9:30 a.m. Many big institutional investors have a certain view of price action during after-hours trading sessions and express that view with their trades once the regular market re-opens.

Since volume is thin and spreads are wide in after-hours trading, it is much easier to push prices higher or lower. Fewer shares and trades are needed to make a substantial impact on a stock’s price. That’s why after-hours orders usually are restricted to limit orders. If your brokerage doesn’t restrict them, consider them anyway as a means to protect yourself from unexpected price swings and order fills.

Standard Trading vs. After-Hours Trading