Descending triangle BEARISH

What a descending triangle is

The descending triangle is the ascending triangle inverted: a flat floor holds while each rally tops out lower than the last. Sellers grow more aggressive as buyers defend a single price, and the pattern conventionally resolves with a breakdown through the floor.

The psychology behind it

The flat floor is committed buying at one level — a bid being defended. The falling highs are the tell: after every bounce off support, sellers reappear sooner and lower. Each cycle chews through more of the buyer's appetite. When the defended level finally breaks, it takes with it every stop-loss resting beneath an obvious, repeatedly-tested support — which is why descending-triangle breakdowns are often abrupt.

How MKTDATA detects it

The template mirrors the ascending version with the trigger zone at the floor. Direction-aware momentum requires bearish agreement from RSI and MACD, and the failed-pattern logic specifically watches for the bear-trap variant — a break of the floor that immediately reverses is flagged as Failed rather than left standing as a phantom success.

Trading notes

Entry on the floor break, invalidation above the most recent lower high, measured move projecting the triangle's height below support. The pattern's notorious counter-case is the upside resolution: descending triangles that break upward tend to travel hard, because the pattern's visibility concentrates short positioning against the floor. On intraday charts the pattern forms in hours; the statistics below track how the 5-minute version has actually resolved.