Chart Patterns Cheat Sheet: Every Pattern on One Page
Chart patterns cheat sheet: 41 annotated charts of reversal, continuation and candlestick patterns, indicators and ICT, each linked to a full guide.
Vittorio De Angelis•Oct 8, 2026•10 min read•Last verified Oct 9, 2026
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This cheat sheet puts every chart pattern, technical indicator and price action concept we cover on one page, each with an annotated chart, the one thing to remember, and a link to the full guide. Use it as a quick reference before a session, or to find the pattern you are looking at.
Quick answer: A chart patterns cheat sheet is a one-page reference of the common price patterns and indicators traders use. Reversal patterns (head and shoulders, double top and bottom, wedges) signal a possible change of trend; continuation patterns (flags, triangles, cup and handle) signal a pause before the trend resumes. Each pattern is confirmed by a close beyond its key line; indicators such as RSI, MACD and VWAP add context but are not signals on their own.
How to read a candlestick. Green (up) candle: open at the bottom of the body, close at the top. Red (down) candle: the reverse. Wicks show how far price travelled beyond the body. Illustrative prices.
Trend, support and volume. Three things to read on any chart: the direction of swings, the levels price reacts to, and whether volume backs the move. Illustrative prices.
Read the direction of the swings, the levels price reacts to, and whether volume backs the move.
Reversal patterns
Head and shoulders top. Volume fades into the right shoulder and expands on the neckline break. The target is the head-to-neckline height projected from the break. Illustrative prices.
Head and shoulders: three peaks, the middle one highest; the pattern completes on a close below the neckline. Full guide: head and shoulders pattern.
Inverse head and shoulders. The same measurement applies upside down: head-to-neckline height projected up from the breakout. Illustrative prices.
Inverse head and shoulders: the bullish mirror; a close above the neckline completes it.
Double top. Until the close below the trough, it is only two highs. The target is the pattern height projected down from the break. Illustrative prices.
Double top: two highs at the same level mean nothing until price closes below the trough between them. Full guide: double top and double bottom.
Double bottom. The mirror image of the double top: confirmation is a close above the middle peak. Illustrative prices.
Double bottom: two lows at the same level, confirmed by a close above the middle peak.
Rising wedge. Each push higher gains less ground. The bearish signal is a close below the rising lower line. Illustrative prices.
Rising wedge: each push higher gains less ground; the bearish signal is a close below the lower line. Full guide: rising and falling wedges.
Falling wedge. Selling pressure fades with each leg lower; the bullish signal is a close above the falling upper line. Illustrative prices.
Falling wedge: selling fades with each leg lower; the bullish signal is a close above the upper line.
Continuation patterns
Cup and handle. The handle should stay in the upper part of the cup. Volume tends to dry up at the bottom of the cup and expand on the breakout. Measured target: cup depth projected from the rim. Illustrative prices.
Cup and handle: a rounded base back to the rim, a shallow handle, then a close above the rim. Full guide: cup and handle pattern.
Bull flag. Volume is heavy on the pole, dries up in the flag and returns on the breakout. Illustrative prices.
Bull flag: a sharp pole, a tight pullback on light volume, then a breakout on volume. Full guide: bull flag and bear flag.
Bear flag. The mirror image of the bull flag: the pause drifts against the trend, then the trend resumes. Illustrative prices.
Bear flag: the mirror image: a sharp drop, a drift higher, then a breakdown.
Ascending triangle. Higher lows press against the same ceiling. The usual confirmation is a close above the flat line. Illustrative prices.
Ascending triangle: higher lows press against a flat ceiling until price closes above it. Full guide: triangle patterns.
Descending triangle. Lower highs press down on the same floor; the usual confirmation is a close below it. Illustrative prices.
Descending triangle: lower highs press on a flat floor until price closes below it.
Symmetrical triangle. Neither side is in control until the break. Here it resolves higher, but it can break either way. Illustrative prices.
Symmetrical triangle: neutral until price closes outside one of the two converging lines.
Moving average crosses
Golden cross. Shown with shorter averages so the whole move fits on one chart; the classic golden cross uses the 50-day and 200-day. The cross lags price: the low came well before it. Illustrative prices.
Golden cross: a fast moving average crosses above a slow one; a trend filter that lags the low. Full guide: golden cross and death cross.
Death cross. The mirror image of the golden cross, shown with shorter averages. Like every moving-average signal, it confirms a move that has already started. Illustrative prices.
Death cross: a fast average crosses below a slow one, confirming a decline that has already started.
Candlestick patterns
Hammer. The hammer only matters after a decline, and most traders wait for the next candle to close higher as confirmation. Illustrative prices.
Hammer: a long lower wick after a decline; wait for the next candle to close higher. Full guide: candlestick patterns.
Shooting star. The bearish mirror of the hammer; it needs a prior rally and a lower close next session to confirm. Illustrative prices.
Shooting star: a long upper wick after a rally; wait for a lower close.
Bullish engulfing. The second body swallows the first. The bigger the engulfing candle relative to recent candles, the stronger the signal. Illustrative prices.
Bullish engulfing: an up candle whose body swallows the previous down candle.
Bearish engulfing. The bearish mirror: buyers' last push is fully reversed in one session. Illustrative prices.
Bearish engulfing: a down candle whose body swallows the previous up candle.
Morning star. The small middle candle shows the selling has stalled; the third candle shows buyers taking over. Illustrative prices.
Morning star: a long down candle, a small pause, then a long up candle closing above the first one's midpoint.
Doji. A doji signals indecision, not direction. After a strong move it can warn the move is tiring; confirmation comes from the next candles. Illustrative prices.
Doji: open and close almost equal; indecision, not direction.
Technical indicators
VWAP on an intraday chart. VWAP resets every session. Many intraday traders treat price above VWAP as a buyers' market and below it as a sellers' market. Illustrative prices.
VWAP: the session's volume-weighted average price; above it buyers are in control, below it sellers. Full guide: VWAP indicator.
RSI overbought and oversold. Overbought does not mean sell and oversold does not mean buy: in a strong trend RSI can stay above 70 or below 30 for a long time. Illustrative prices.
RSI: momentum on a 0 to 100 scale; above 70 is overbought and below 30 oversold, but neither is a signal on its own. Full guide: RSI indicator.
Bearish RSI divergence. Divergence is a warning, not a trigger. Traders usually wait for price to confirm, for example by breaking the last swing low. Illustrative prices.
RSI divergence: price makes a higher high while RSI makes a lower high; a warning that momentum is fading.
MACD crossovers. The histogram is the gap between the two lines: it shrinks before a crossover, which is why traders watch it for early warning. Illustrative prices.
MACD: the gap between a 12 and 26-period EMA with a 9-period signal line; crossovers and the histogram show momentum shifts. Full guide: MACD indicator.
SMA vs EMA. The EMA reacts faster and the SMA is smoother. Neither predicts; both summarise where price has been. Illustrative prices.
Moving averages: the EMA reacts faster than the SMA; both summarise where price has been. Full guide: moving averages.
Bollinger Band squeeze and breakout. A squeeze says a bigger move is likely, not which way. The break outside the band and the follow-through give the direction. Illustrative prices.
Bollinger Bands: bands two standard deviations around a 20-period average; a squeeze often comes before a bigger move. Full guide: Bollinger Bands.
Fibonacci retracement levels. Draw from swing low to swing high in an uptrend (high to low in a downtrend). The levels mark where a pullback might pause, not where it must. Illustrative prices.
Fibonacci retracement: levels between a swing low and high where pullbacks often pause; 61.8% is the most watched. Full guide: Fibonacci retracement.
Support, resistance and the flip. The more often a level is tested and the more volume trades there, the more traders watch it. Once broken, old resistance often becomes support. Illustrative prices.
Support and resistance: zones where price has reacted before; once broken, old resistance often becomes support. Full guide: support and resistance.
Volume profile. High-volume nodes tend to act as magnets and support or resistance; low-volume gaps are where price often moves quickly. Illustrative prices.
Volume profile: volume traded at each price; the point of control and value area act as reference levels. Full guide: volume profile.
ATR and a volatility-based stop. ATR measures how much price moves, not which way. Sizing stops in ATR keeps them outside normal noise; size the position from that stop. Illustrative prices.
ATR: the average size of a candle's range; use it to place stops outside normal noise and size the position from the stop. Full guide: ATR indicator.
Ichimoku cloud. Price above the cloud is bullish, below it bearish, inside it undecided. The cloud is green when span A is above span B and red when it is below; it reflects older prices, so it can stay red after price has turned. Illustrative prices.
Ichimoku cloud: price above the cloud is bullish, below it bearish, inside it undecided. Full guide: Ichimoku cloud.
The ICT setup in four steps. 1. Liquidity is taken. 2. Displacement breaks structure. 3. Entry on the retrace into the fair value gap. 4. Target the opposing liquidity. Illustrative prices.
The ICT setup: liquidity is taken, displacement breaks structure, entry on the retrace into a fair value gap, target the opposing liquidity. Full guide: ICT trading.
Sell-side liquidity sweep. The wick takes the stops below the equal lows; the close back above the level is what separates a sweep from a breakdown. Illustrative prices.
Liquidity sweep: price trades through equal lows and closes back inside. Full guide: liquidity sweep.
Break of structure in an uptrend. Breaks are counted on candle closes above the prior high, not on wicks. Illustrative prices.
Break of structure: a close above the prior swing high confirms the trend. Full guide: break of structure.
Change of character. A break of structure continues the trend; a change of character breaks the last swing that defended it. Illustrative prices.
Change of character: the first close below the last higher low, a warning that the trend may be ending.
Bullish fair value gap. The gap runs from the first candle's high to the third candle's low; price returns into it, then continues in the direction of the displacement. Illustrative prices.
Fair value gap: a three-candle imbalance that price often revisits. Full guide: fair value gap.
Bullish order block. The block is marked from the last down candle's high to its low. The move away from it must break structure for the block to count. Illustrative prices.
Order block: the last opposing candle before a move that breaks structure. Full guide: order block.
Premium and discount. In an uptrend, SMC traders look to buy pullbacks in discount (below 50%) rather than chase price in premium. Illustrative prices.
Premium and discount: in an uptrend, look to buy pullbacks below the 50% level of the range. Full guide: smart money concepts.
ICT kill zones. Times are New York time (ET) as ICT teaches them. Convert to your own time zone and watch daylight saving changes.
Kill zones: the session windows ICT traders watch, in New York time.
Using this cheat sheet on a Velotrade challenge
Velotrade, a multi-asset prop trading firm, runs simulated evaluations with a static maximum drawdown and a daily loss limit that resets at 00:30 UTC from the higher of your balance or equity. Whichever pattern you trade, decide the stop before the entry, size the position from that stop with the position size calculator, and keep the loss well inside the daily limit. See the challenges.
Educational only, not investment advice. Prices in the charts are illustrative, and Velotrade accounts are simulated.
Frequently Asked Questions
About the author
Vittorio De Angelis
Executive Chairman
Former equity-derivatives trader at JP Morgan, Dresdner Kleinwort and Bank of America in London. Later Head of Brokerage at a global broker in Hong Kong.
