What Is The Cup & Handle Pattern & How To Trade With It

However, some traders take a position even before, exploiting the handle’s price movement as well. They simply enter a short sell position whenever they identify the completion of the cup and the beginning of the handle shape price movements. The best strategy is to use this indicator as a way to identify potential reversal signals. This will help you confirm a downward breakout on the inverted cup handle pattern. This pattern typically forms when the market swings up and bounces off the key support level.

Alternatively, traders could double the size of the handle and subtract that from the handle breakout point. Cup and handle patterns are also traded in the forex market, especially by day traders​​. When intraday trading, cup and handles tend to perform better during active times of a specific currency pair. When the forex markets are not open, the pair tends to be quieter, which means less movement, and it also means that intraday cup and handle patterns will not form as strongly.

Cup and Handle chart pattern: How to capture a swing for consistent profits

From what I learnt earlier, I thought cup and handle chart pattern must really appear half rounded with a handle, which I spotted only once. Now, I just learnt it must not necessarily https://www.bigshotrading.info/ be a semi circle with a handle. Our first strategy for the cup and handle price pattern is to enter just before the completion of the pattern, during the handle formation.

Above is an example of two cup and handles that formed in the Big Tech share basket on our Next Generation trading platform. The pattern on the left is more complex as the cup pattern is wavy and harder to identify. The pattern on the right is more traditional, with a clear cup (or V, in this case) shape, cup and handle reversal followed by a handle breakout to the upside. Trading security based on chart patterns is quite a common phenomenon in the market. This is usually formed when the price of a security moves in a fashion which resembles a shape in the form of a rectangle, rounding, triangle, cup and handle pattern, etc.

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We have no knowledge of the level of money you are trading with or the level of risk you are taking with each trade. No, the Inverse Cup and Handle is a bearish pattern that signals the end of an uptrend and the beginning of a new downward trend. When this pattern appears, the price typically makes a long bearish move after the price reversal. Let me remind you that the inverted cup and handle breakout is only confirmed when the price action closes below the support line. This upside-down cup pattern works the same way as the cup and handle pattern, except that the breakout direction is downward instead of upward.

• Investing involves risk, including the possible loss of principal.
• Do note, names discussed here are for educational purposes only.
• Moreover, you should closely monitor the volume as the breakouts with low volume is less likely to sustain.
• The price then forms the handle, which is a small trading range that should be less than one third of the size of the cup.
• Time correction is when the price moves around the same range for an extended period of time.

It is a bullish continuation pattern which means that it is usually indicative of an increase in price once the pattern is complete. However, as previously mentioned, you must confirm the reversal with other trading tools. For example, you can use technical indicators, support and resistance levels, and trading volume indicators to get extra confirmation that a reversal is likely to occur. A cup and handle is considered a bullish continuation pattern and is used to identify buying opportunities. Another related technical analysis indicator to keep in mind is an inverted cup and handle pattern.

What is an Inverted Cup and Handle Pattern?

In the world of forex and gold trading, recognizing chart patterns can be your key to unlocking profitable opportunities. One such pattern, the Cup and Handle, offers traders a powerful tool for identifying potential bullish trends. In this comprehensive article, we’ll explore how to identify and trade the Cup and Handle pattern in both forex and gold markets…. The reverse cup with handle is a reversal pattern and momentum sell short signal as it breaks down out of the ‘handle’ in the formation. It is usually a topping pattern after a strong move to the upside signaling the end of an uptrend on a chart.

• A conservative price target can be achieved by measuring the height of the handle and adding it above the resistance level at the top right-side of the cup.
• Place a stop buy order slightly above the upper trend line of the handle.
• This means that if the breakdown fails (prices bounce off the support trend line), there will be a strong buying pressure pushing prices back up again.
• For additional confirmation, look for the bottom of the cup to align with a longer-term support level, such as a rising ​trendline or moving average.

New buyers enter the pullback at the 38.6% or 50% retracement level, expecting the prior uptrend to resume. The security bounces and tests the high, drawing in aggressive short-sellers who believe that a new downtrend will elicit a double top breakdown. The theory behind the cup and handle pattern is that if the price tried to drop but then rebounded, there must be strong buying momentum behind the asset to continue moving higher.

However, some traders make the mistake of assuming that once a U-shape forms, the price will drop to form a handle. It may not, so you should ideally avoid trading the pattern until it has fully formed, in order to confirm the trend. You could wait for the price to break above the handle to signal that the uptrend is continuing. The cup and handle pattern and the inverted type are continuation patterns. Under normal conditions, they are not expected to signal trend reversals, but nothing is perfect in the market.

As a former professional trader in private equity and proprietary funds, he has over 15 years of market experience, and has been featured on more than 20 occasions in the media. Once the breakout happens, the price and volume is expected to surge, which would make it more challenging to enter a position, hence it is recommend to take a position before that. Looking at the diagram above, you might think that the best place to enter a trade is during the cup phase, because you can get the best entry price. By this time, the bulls have the upper hand as they have been accumulating positions during the cup formation, which in turn attracts more buyers. As they build up their positions, we start to see a wide U-shape bottom (the cup), where bulls and bears are almost balanced. This suggests that the bears are no longer in control, and the downtrend has been neutralized.