How to trade The Cup and Handle Chart Pattern

what does a cup and handle chart mean

The stop loss order will prevent you from making losses, which can wipe out your trading account. This breakout was followed by a significant decrease in the price of the currency pair. This is followed by a significant increase in the price of the currency pair. It should be https://www.bigshotrading.info/ equal to the size of the bearish channel created around the handle. If you consider the beginning point of the bullish move and the end point of the bearish move, they are at approximately the same level. It should be applied downwards right from the moment of the breakout.

what does a cup and handle chart mean

See that the target has been applied downwards from where the breakout occurs. The first target should be equal to the size of the bearish channel around the handle. The formation of the handle also begins immediately after the formation of the cup. The second target is equal what does a cup and handle chart mean to the size of the cup beginning from the moment of the breakout. A bullish move begins, which moves to approximately the same level as the top of the bearish move. The beginning of the price decrease and the end of the price increase are approximately at the same level.

What happens after a Cup and Handle pattern forms?

Remember, the confirmation of the pattern occurs when the price breaks the handle. You can then draw the shape of a bullish handle on the right side of the cup. After confirming the pattern, the price is most likely to break the channel of the handle, starting a bullish move. The price action then starts to create the handle, which is a structure created by a bearish price move.

The price is briefly rejected and takes a little more time to build up strength before taking out the high. A Cup and Handle is considered a bullish continuation pattern and is used to identify buying opportunities. Other technical analysis tools include indicators, chart patterns, and volume. Each of these can be used to help traders make better investment decisions.

What Does a Cup and Handle Pattern Tell You?

If a cup and handle forms and it is confirmed, the price should see a sharp increase in the short- to medium-term. There is a risk of missing the trade if the price continues to advance and does not pull back. In the above chart, we have a bearish cup and handle chart pattern. If you are having a bullish cup with handle formation, you should see a bullish breakout through the handle. If you want to draw a bearish cup and handle chart pattern, take the two bottoms of the pattern then stretch a curved line upwards. The bullish cup and handle chart pattern has been marked using blue lines.

But what’s even more important is where the price moves after the pattern is formed, which shows whether it will continue to rise above the handle moving to a bullish market. It’s considered a bullish signal, indicating prices are rising, which offers opportunities to go long (for a reminder on the nuances of bull vs bear, check out this article). The cup and handle formation time frames are approximately seven weeks to a year. Volume should decrease during the formation of the pattern, but there should be a spike when the breakout/breakdown happens after the handle formation.

Examples of the Cup and Handle Pattern

Finally, there is also the option not to enter a position during the initial breakout but to wait for a retest of the breakout level. However, keep in mind that this approach neither gives certainty regarding the direction of the price. The retest itself could just as well be the beginning of a counter-movement that pushes the price back into a downtrend. Alternately, watch for a price close above the handle’s upper trend line before placing a limit order just below the pattern’s breakout level and hoping for execution if the price retraces. If the price keeps rising and does not reverse, there is a chance of missing the trade.

  • You should consider whether you understand how spread bets and CFDs work, and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.
  • In this case, a trader should set the Stop Loss order slightly below the handle’s trendline.
  • It’s considered a bullish signal, indicating prices are rising, which offers opportunities to go long (for a reminder on the nuances of bull vs bear, check out this article).
  • The classic cup and handle pattern is bullish, i.e. there is an attempt to go long on an upward breakout.

Order execution should only occur if the price breaks the pattern’s resistance. Traders may experience excess slippage and enter a false breakout using an aggressive entry. With this pattern, a buy signal occurs when the price breaks out of the upper trend line of the price channel that forms the handle. There should be a substantial increase in volume on the breakout above the handle’s resistance. Alternatively, you place a stop buy order slightly above that upper trend line.

Plan your trading

The security bounces and tests the high, drawing in aggressive short-sellers who believe that a new downtrend will elicit a double top breakdown. As with most chart patterns, capturing the pattern’s essence is more important than the particulars. The cup is a bowl-shaped consolidation, and the handle is a short pullback followed by a breakout with expanding volume. A cup retracement of 62% may not fit the pattern requirements, but a particular stock’s pattern may still capture the essence of the Cup with Handle. The target with the cup and handle pattern is the height of the cup added to the breakout point of the handle.

  • These movements form a ‘u’ shape on the chart – this is known as the cup.
  • If you are having a bullish cup with handle formation, you should see a bullish breakout through the handle.
  • That is a bullish sign of market leadership that you like to see as a stock clears a buy point.
  • Cup-And-Handle Pattern isn’t always reliable and should not be used in isolation.
  • It’s all so you can ask questions, get answers, and find your market groove.

Many analysts look for confirmation of a strong buy signal in the form of a volume spike. Opponents of the V-bottom argue that prices don’t stabilize before bottoming and believe the price may drop back to test that level. But, ultimately, if the price breaks above the handle, it signals an upside move. A V-bottom, where the price drops and then sharply rallies, may also form a cup. Those that like them see the V-bottom as a sharp reversal of the downtrend, which shows buyers stepped in aggressively on the right side of the pattern.

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