Descending Triangle: When the Floor Is Being Worn Down

The shape

The mirror of the ascending triangle: a flat floor that keeps getting tested, with each bounce off it weaker than the last — lower highs squeezing price against support.

Why it works

Someone is defending a level with real buying — but the sellers return quicker and cheaper every time. Each shallower bounce means less demand above the floor. When the defenders are exhausted, the support breaks and every stop-loss parked under it fires at once.

How to use it

Like the double top, treat it primarily as holder's intelligence: a descending triangle forming under one of your positions is the chart telling you demand is thinning. Review the stock's fundamentals and bear case *before* the floor decides for you.

Our scanner's rules

• Three-plus touches of a flat support (within ~2%) with clearly falling swing highs.
• Signal fires on the breakdown through support, invalidated above the latest lower high, with the triangle's height projected downward as the objective.

Common mistakes

• Averaging down *into* the pattern because "support has held four times." The fourth test of a floor is weaker evidence than the first, not stronger — every test consumes the buyers waiting there.
• Shorting the pattern before the break: flat floors do sometimes win and launch rallies (that failure is itself a strong bullish signal).

Current matches: Strategies page.