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1992issue C081-8

Pre-trade checklist for trendline and triangle signals

Treat a trendline under repeated pressure and a triangle of either slope as items in one pre-trade checklist. Write the chart-invalidation, the size, and the stand-aside condition before the first order, and keep that same procedure when the geometry changes.

  • A pre-trade checklist is a written sequence that fixes entry, exit, size, and abstention before any order is placed.
  • Chart-invalidation is the pre-specified structural change that would make the setup no longer valid, so the stop can sit at that chart point before entry.
  • Repeated contact with a trendline is treated as a warning that the line may break, and a triangle-pattern of either slope is a directional hypothesis rather than a story after the fill.
  • Equity-invariant-sizing applies at any account size, and a lighter commitment is advised when the market position is not clearly defined.
Entries in this reading3 entries
Pre-trade checklist43 readingsCurrent trackTriangle pattern55 readingsTrendline128 readings

What the checklist writes down

A pre-trade checklist is a written sequence that fixes entry, exit, size, and abstention before any order is placed. In the archive workflow, a stop can be placed before entry at the chart point where the setup would no longer look valid. That point is the chart-invalidation: the pre-specified structural change that would make the setup no longer valid and therefore trigger the stop.

Rules that still need judgment

Discretionary trading still follows rules of attitude, approach, and personality, while mechanical trading still uses judgment for contract rolls, bet-size changes, and adding or dropping instruments. A compact operating set can require staying with the long-term trend, cutting losses, allowing profits to continue, and sizing the bet only as large as the operator can handle.

Trendline under repeated pressure

A trendline is a line along successive highs or lows that marks a directional constraint on price. Repeated contact with a minor or major trendline is treated as a warning that the line may break. A break of a minor line running against the major trend can be used as a stop-based place to take or reverse a position.

December 1991 lumber, mid-year to year-end

Lumber futures slide from the high 180s into the mid-200s as successive support trendlines are touched and then broken. The path is read off the published daily bars, not from a table.
Lumber futures slide from the high 180s into the mid-200s as successive support trendlines are touched and then broken. The path is read off the published daily bars, not from a table.December 1991 Lumber · daily · 1991-07-01T00:00:00.000Z to 1991-12-31T00:00:00.000Z

Prices are approximate closes taken from the printed daily bar chart; the raster does not support tick-level precision.

A triangle of either slope

A triangle-pattern is a contracting price structure whose break is treated as a directional hypothesis rather than a story after the fill. A triangle of either slope can represent accumulation or distribution depending on other conditions. It is often described as breaking on the flatter side, and stop orders can be related to triangular foci when they are tied to the chart formation.

Size and the stand-aside condition

When a market position is not clearly defined, a lighter commitment is advised, because concentrating on clearly signaled moves is presented as a way to reduce unprofitable whipsaws. Money-management logic can be treated as independent of a required starting stake, with the counterpart question being what equity level would force the trader to stop rather than what amount is needed to begin. Equity-invariant-sizing is that position-sizing logic: it applies at any account size instead of waiting for a required starting stake.

Educational research material, not investment advice. Historical source context does not establish present-day performance.
3 of 33 in the Triangle pattern track
19951-5 pp.Next on Triangle patternChart patterns as tactics, not strategyScanning charts for a double top and bottom in order to infer later price direction was placed with short-horizon betting and with entry-or-exit tactics, not with strategy.
All readings on this track · 33 readings
  1. 1986Gold as a double zigzag before a contracting B-wave triangle
  2. 1990Scoring competing wave counts after a crash
  3. 1992Pre-trade checklist for trendline and triangle signals
  4. 1995Chart patterns as tactics, not strategy
  5. 1996Constructing Elliott wave counts with triangles and Fibonacci
  6. 1996A price-channel case study with a pending triangle signal and a planned stop-loss
  7. 1996Expanding triangle as a dual-label fourth-wave reversal worksheet
  8. 1997Rising wedge construction, breakout, and volume
  9. 1997Confirm structure and conditions before naming a Triangle pattern
  10. 1999Drawing the Triangle pattern before Breakout confirmation and the Stop-loss order
  11. 2000Four-phase market cycle triangle breakouts
  12. 2000Continuation triangles as a three-lock experiment
  13. 2001Folding rule: stacking three trendlines on an accelerating swing
  14. 2003A scored symmetrical triangle on a utility stock
  15. 2003Constructing wedges versus flat-boundary triangles
  16. 2004Testing triangle breakouts against volume filters
  17. 2004Mute triangles, histogram force, and trader optimization
  18. 2004Constructing falsifiable reversal and continuation patterns
  19. 2004Construct a corrective rising wedge before treating it as a short
  20. 2004A continuation triangle with Fibonacci targets and an apex stop
  21. 2005Pre-breakout filters for classic chart patterns
  22. 2005Reverse trendlines as a geometry lab for convergence and expanding triangles
  23. 2005Volume shapes versus triangle and double-pattern breakouts
  24. 2005A nested-pattern checklist on the 2005 euro
  25. 2005Volume test for a descending triangle breakout
  26. 2010Constructing triangle, broadening, and head and shoulders patterns
  27. 2011Treat a numeric pattern rank as a shortlist
  28. 2011Evaluating the head-and-shoulders as a falsifiable reversal
  29. 2013Auditing chart patterns by the first post-breakout swing
  30. 2014A three-gate entry for a triangle pullback
  31. 2014Golden triangle: a 50-day pause that still needs both gates
  32. 2014The triangle qualifier came after the rating pre-screen and the fifty-day bounce
  33. 2018Aligning daily, weekly, and monthly triangles with trendlines and Fibonacci retracements
By fieldDecision process69 readingsBy year1992115 readings
All 55 readings tagged Triangle pattern
Also on Triangle pattern5 readings
1992A pre-trade checklist for trendline breaks and loss limitsPre-trade checklist1995A supermarket-chain case for yield, trendline, and a written checklistPre-trade checklist2001Folding rule: stacking three trendlines on an accelerating swing2005Reverse trendlines as a geometry lab for convergence and expanding triangles2018Aligning daily, weekly, and monthly triangles with trendlines and Fibonacci retracements