Identifying The Cup And Handle Pattern

Just flip the chart of a typical cup and handle upside down and you will see an inverse cup and handle. This pattern is considered to be a bearish signal that indicates a stock may see a price decrease in the future. Continually scanning hundreds of charts to detect this pattern is challenging and time-consuming, but we’ve got you covered! Just sign up for your Wagner Daily PRO membership to receive the best swing trade alerts for the cup and handle and other top patterns.

The handle formation represents a last-ditch effort from a handful of sellers to push the prices down. Or you can consider this a breather taken by the buyers to shake out the weak hands. The handle is a sloping consolidation that should be restricted to the upper half region of the chart.

How and When to Enter or Exit This Pattern

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• The moving average can also act as an indicator for support and resistance if necessary.
• Can you spot the cup and handle pattern on the M30 chart for AUDCAD?
• The risks of loss from investing in CFDs can be substantial and the value of your investments may fluctuate.
• Now that you are aware of the meaning of cup and handle pattern let’s shift our focus to its formation.
• If this condition isn’t observed, there might be a false breakout.
• If the price breaks below the bottom curve of the cup and continues downward, then we say that we have formed a broken or dirty cup.
• Remember that volume is a lagging indicator and may not always predict price movements accurately.

Many traders look for volume confirmation to signal that a buy is warranted. This means that a lot of people are going into the market, which can support even more price increases in the future. The price target following the breakout can be estimated by measuring the distance from the right top of the cup to the bottom of the cup and adding that number to the buy point. After the high forms on the right side of the cup, there is a pullback that forms the handle. If the price oscillated up and down several times within the handle, a stop-loss might also be placed below the most recent swing low. You might notice that the cup’s left side is slightly shorter than the right.

How to use Cup and Handle for forex trading

High or low volume can indicate an increase or decrease in market activity for a certain financial instrument. Remember that volume is a lagging indicator and may not always predict price movements accurately. 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, followed by a handle breakout to the upside.

• To determine the cup and handle, follow price movements on a chart and look for the “u” shape and the downward handle.
• During the stock’s actual breakout, you want to see a new wave of buyers coming in at a torrid pace, not a trickling one.
• The smaller down waves heading into the cup and handle provide evidence that selling is tapering off, which improves the odds of an upside move if the price breaks above the handle.
• The practice is called technical analysis, and there are dozens of patterns that have significant meaning in that world.
• Chart patterns are formations that appear on a stock’s price chart and often repeat themselves.
• This often results in a rally that can last several weeks or months, and reach the target price that was calculated from the cup and handle pattern.
• So there are more price moves in the charts, making the pattern appear narrower.

The inverted cup and handle pattern’s meaning is obvious from its name and functionality. In contrast with a traditional cup and handle pattern, an inverted what does a cup and handle chart mean cup and handle is an indication of a bearish movement. The inverted cup and handle is a reliable chart pattern in the forex and other financial markets.

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Swing traders can look at daily or weekly timeframes to make accurate calls. And even though it might also work for scalping — via the minute and hourly chart — the reliability decreases here. As mentioned earlier, the cup and handle pattern works with almost every timeframe.

The subsequent decline ended within two points of the initial public offering (IPO) price, far exceeding O’Neil’s requirement for a shallow cup high in the prior trend. The subsequent recovery wave reached the prior high in 2011, nearly 10 years after the first print. For example, if the price of a product ranges from $100 to $200, ideally, the handle (high-to-low) should range between $200 and $150.

How to Trade the Cup and Handle Chart Pattern

In this case, look for a strong trend heading into the cup and handle. 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. Two waves identify a cup and handle formation – the first wave down to form the cup, followed by a second wave with slight retracement before making new highs forming the handle. The handle portion of the pattern forms when the price consolidates sideways after the cup is formed.

The handle forms as a subsequent, smaller upward movement at the top of the cup (near the bottom of the chart pattern). The cup and handle is a powerful and reliable chart pattern of technical analysis that frequently leads to big gains. As such, it is one of the top chart patterns we consistently target in our flagship https://www.bigshotrading.info/blog/what-are-pivot-points-in-trading/ stock and crypto swing trading services. Technical indicators and signals are valuable assets in making investment decisions. Still, like anything else, the cup and handle pattern charts work best when combined with additional indicators. Although it’s one of the more popular chart patterns, it also has limitations.

And you gotta check out our brand-new Breaking News chat feature. See how two skilled stock market pros can help you find the news with the most potential to move stocks. Here’s where you can learn more and start a 14-day trial TODAY. The best place to enter a trade using this pattern is when the handle forms. If the pattern is successful, there’s a good chance for another breakout after the stock passes the cup’s previous high. If it doesn’t, the stock’s momentum may not be enough to break through the higher resistance level.