Flags, pennants and triangles are pauses inside a trend. Learn to trade the break in the trend's direction — and why pennants underperform flags.
8 min read The Pattern Library
+39%
Bull flag average rise (high-tight)
83%
Ascending triangle break-even rate
57%
Bull pennant upward break rate
~86%
Volume decline during formation
// key takeaways
▸ Continuations are consolidations inside an existing trend, not reversals.
▸ Trade the break in the direction of the prior thrust (the flagpole).
▸ Volume dries up in the pause and spikes on the breakout.
▸ Flags generally outperform pennants on Bulkowski's metrics.
// figure: continuation patterns
figure.svg
Bull flag — a sharp pole, a tight drift, then continuation up.
The idea
After a sharp move (the flagpole), the market pauses to digest gains before continuing. That pause forms a tidy shape — a flag (parallel lines), a pennant (converging lines) or a triangle. The prior trend usually resumes on the breakout.
Flag vs pennant vs triangle
› Bull flag — a small downward-sloping parallel channel after a rally; the high-and-tight variant is one of the best-performing patterns.
› Bull pennant — a small symmetrical triangle after a rally; breaks up only ~57% of the time, so demand extra confirmation.
Educational content only — not financial advice. Pattern statistics reference Thomas Bulkowski (thepatternsite.com) and published technical-analysis literature.
