Continuation Pattern
A flat ceiling of resistance with a rising floor of support underneath it — buyers stepping in at progressively higher prices while sellers defend the same level, until the ceiling gives way.
Price touches the same horizontal resistance level two or more times while each pullback low is higher than the last. The two boundaries converge toward the flat ceiling — wide on the left, narrow on the right, like a right triangle lying on its side. This pattern only forms as a consolidation phase after a preceding uptrend or recovery, not as a random sideways range.
LuminaAnalysis requires the upper touches to sit within ±0.3% of each other (regression slope + first-to-last drift). If the ceiling is actually drifting upward beyond that tolerance, the setup gets reclassified as an Ascending Channel instead — a flat ceiling is the defining feature that separates the two.
At least 3 higher lows are required, each showing a genuine bounce — price must reverse upward by at least 0.3% after touching support before the next leg down. A candle low during a straight rally with no reversal doesn't count as a touch.
The consolidation must span at least 12 candles. Shorter clusters of touches are treated as noise, not a valid formation.
Both trendlines are fit with linear regression across all touches; if any single touch deviates more than 15% from the fitted line, the pattern fails validation entirely rather than being drawn with a poor-fitting line.
Confirm: Price closes above the flat resistance level — breakout confirmed. Target is measured as the triangle's starting height (resistance minus the earliest support touch) projected upward from the breakout point.
Invalidation: Price closes back below the rising support trendline before a breakout occurs.
Technical analysis scenarios. Not investment advice.
An Ascending Triangle inside an established uptrend is a continuation signal; the same shape after a long downtrend carries less conviction and may just be a pause, not a reversal setup.
As price coils tighter toward the apex, a decisive breakout tends to happen sooner rather than later — the pattern doesn't stay valid indefinitely.
Three or four genuine rejections at the same ceiling carry more weight than the bare minimum two.
A breakout on rising volume is a stronger confirmation signal than a quiet, low-volume push through resistance.