Chart pattern · Continuation · Bullish
What is it, in one line
A sharp advance followed by a small converging consolidation.
Bullish · Continuation · verdict: Traditional claim, not yet measured here
A sharp advance followed by a small converging consolidation.
Method
Conventional target: Read as a bullish continuation.
Invalidated by: Without the pole this is a symmetrical triangle, which carries no direction. The pole is the entire difference.
A pole, then a symmetrical narrowing — falling highs and rising lows — small against the pole. A pennant differs from a flag only in that the consolidation CONVERGES rather than drifting.
The traditional claim
Read as a bullish continuation.
How this detection is wrong
Without the pole this is a symmetrical triangle, which carries no direction. The pole is the entire difference.
Published so the count can be reproduced. Every figure below is a parameter of the rule, not a preference: change one and the occurrence count changes with it.
| Parameter | Meaning | Default |
|---|---|---|
| pivotLeft | bars to the left of a swing | 3 |
| pivotRight | bars to the right before a swing is confirmed | 3 |
| lookback | bars searched for the swings | 120 |
| atrPeriod | bars of ATR used to size everything below | 14 |
| flatTol | how level two points must be | 0.02 |
| minSepAtr | separation required between swings, in ATR | 1 |
| poleBars | bars the pole may take to form | 20 |
| minPoleSlope | pole slope required | 2 |
| maxFlagAtr | flag drift permitted, in ATR | 6 |
These share enough geometry that a detector can return more than one of them on the same bar. The engine reports every match rather than picking a winner.
What is a Bullish Pennant chart pattern?
A pole, then a symmetrical narrowing — falling highs and rising lows — small against the pole. A pennant differs from a flag only in that the consolidation CONVERGES rather than drifting. The detector also requires a prior uptrend, so the same shape in the wrong context is not counted.
Is the Bullish Pennant bullish or bearish?
It is read as bullish. Read as a bullish continuation.
When is a Bullish Pennant not a Bullish Pennant?
Without the pole this is a symmetrical triangle, which carries no direction. The pole is the entire difference.
How is a Bullish Pennant detected?
As an executable rule over open, high, low and close, with 9 named parameters — including bars to the left of a swing 3, bars to the right before a swing is confirmed 3, bars searched for the swings 120 — all published on this page so the count can be reproduced. Strict and loose variants are defined as well, so the sensitivity of the count to those thresholds is visible rather than assumed.
Measurement pending re-run
No hit rate is published here yet. The run that would supply one was computed on engine ca6d9e36c81c; the engine is now cfb08765de7c. Its candlestick rows included the still-forming bar, and it predates the chart formations entirely, so those figures have been withdrawn rather than published with a caveat. The definition above is unaffected: it is what the detector tests, and no re-run changes it.
Same shape, opposite reading
The shapes are close, and the prior trend is what decides which one fired: this rule requires a preceding uptrend, its mirror a preceding downtrend.
Bearish Pennant: A sharp decline followed by a small converging consolidation.