PatternX feature
Automated chart pattern recognition
By the PatternX team · Published
Chart pattern recognition
Chart pattern recognition is the PatternX scanner: 20 rule-based detectors check the crypto, stock, ETF and FX instruments you track, filter every breakout for volume, volatility, liquidity and spread, and turn what survives into a signal with an entry, stop and target. It suits traders who want patterns found by consistent rules rather than by eye, and it runs on every plan.
Availability: Every plan; the plan sets how many instruments you can track and how often they are rescanned
What the scanner does
PatternX reads price as OHLCV candles (open, high, low, close and volume). For each venue, symbol and timeframe you follow, the scanner fetches the latest 200 bars, needs at least 60, and runs all 20 detectors over them. Each detector returns at most one match, and only when the breakout is happening on the most recent bar.
There is no fixed market universe. PatternX scans your connected venues × your tracked symbols × your chosen timeframes, and repeats the scan every 120 seconds on Free, 60 on Starter, 30 on Pro and 10 on Elite.
The 20 patterns
| Family | Patterns | Direction traded |
|---|---|---|
| Head and shoulders | Head and shoulders, inverse head and shoulders | Short; inverse long |
| Doubles and triples | Double top, double bottom, triple top, triple bottom | Tops short, bottoms long |
| Triangles | Ascending, descending, symmetrical | Long, short, or either way from the breakout |
| Wedges | Falling wedge, rising wedge | Long; short |
| Flags and pennants | Bull flag, bear flag, bullish pennant, bearish pennant | Bullish long, bearish short |
| Rectangles | Bullish rectangle, bearish rectangle | Long; short |
| Rounded shapes | Rounding bottom, rounding top, cup and handle | Bottom and cup long, top short |
The continuation and reversal labels on these patterns are descriptive only. Rectangles are the one family that checks the trend before the pattern: a move of at least 2% in the breakout direction over up to 20 bars before the box. The pattern library covers each pattern in depth.
How detection works
Most detectors work from swing points. A bar is a swing high when its high is the highest within a set number of bars on each side: 3 for the cup, head and shoulders, double and triple patterns, and 2 for triangles, wedges and rectangles. A swing is therefore confirmed only 2 or 3 bars after it prints.
Each detector reads a trailing window sized to its pattern, from 110 bars for triples down to about 41 or fewer for flags and pennants; rounding patterns use a fixed 45-bar base. The rules are exact. A double top, for example, needs two consecutive swing highs 8–50 bars apart and within 2.5% of each other, a neckline (the deepest swing low between them) at least 2% below their average, and a second high no more than 25 bars ago. It triggers on a fresh close below the neckline. Each detector also grades its match, capped at 85. The pattern detection methodology lists the rules for all 20.
Filters every breakout must pass
A shape is not yet a signal. Whatever the pattern, the breakout must also clear these checks:
- the breakout bar must close in the direction of the trade;
- breakout-bar volume of at least 1.2× its 20-bar average;
- an ATR% (average true range as a percentage of price) of at least 0.05;
- a liquidity score of at least 30 and a spread no wider than 0.25%;
- order-book imbalance against the trade no worse than −0.5;
- for crypto only, at least $3M of 24-hour volume (broker instruments are exempt).
No detector adds a volume rule of its own on top of the 1.2× check.
Timeframes and markets
PatternX scans eight timeframes: 1m, 3m, 5m, 15m, 30m, 1h, 4h and 1d. New accounts start with 5m, 15m and 1h. Each setup is also compared with the next timeframe up, using 100 bars; that comparison feeds the score but never rejects a signal by itself.
For crypto, the symbol picker offers each exchange's top 20 pairs by 24-hour volume. Stocks, ETFs and FX come from a curated list of 309 instruments, traded through your own broker. See crypto markets and stocks, ETFs and FX.
From pattern to signal
A breakout that passes the filters is rated by the PatternX Score, which becomes the signal's confidence. The engine's floor is 50 and your own minimum defaults to 65. PatternX then sets the levels:
- Stop: the tighter of your stop-loss percentage and the pattern's own stop (placed with a 0.2% buffer).
- Target: the nearer of your take-profit percentage and the pattern's measured-move target.
- Check: if reward:risk is below 1, the signal is dropped.
The platform defaults are a 10% take-profit and a 5% stop-loss, and each signal is then recomputed with your own risk settings. Signals expire after 15 minutes.
For example, imagine a bull flag breaking out at $100.00 with an $8.00 pole and a flag low of $97.00. The measured-move target of $108.00 is nearer than the default 10% target at $110.00, so $108.00 is used. The pattern stop just under $97.00 is tighter than the default 5% stop at $95.00, so it wins. That is about $3.20 of risk for $8.00 of potential reward, comfortably above the 1:1 minimum.
Detection is identical in PatternX Classic and PatternX AI; AI mode only evaluates setups after they are found.
Limitations
- Formations wider than a detector's window are not seen.
- Swings confirm late, and the breakout bar may still be forming.
- Nothing re-checks the pattern once a signal or trade is open; the pattern's stop becomes the stop-loss.
- Targets are often capped by your settings rather than the full measured move.
- Only your tracked symbols are scanned, at 10–120 second intervals.
Patterns describe probabilities, not certainties. More in known limitations.
Frequently asked questions
Does PatternX wait for the breakout bar to finish before it signals?
No. The breakout has to happen on the latest bar, which may still be forming, so a signal can fire mid-bar and the bar can still reverse before it ends. That is one reason every signal carries a stop.
Why didn't PatternX flag a pattern I can see on my chart?
Common reasons: the formation is wider than the detector's window, the breakout isn't on the latest bar, breakout volume was under 1.2× the 20-bar average, the spread or liquidity check failed, or you don't track that symbol or timeframe.
Does the higher timeframe have to agree before a signal is sent?
No. Agreement on the next timeframe up adds to the score through the multi-timeframe factor, but disagreement there never blocks a signal on its own.
Can I switch off patterns I don't want to trade?
Yes. Enabled patterns are part of your settings, alongside your minimum confidence and risk settings, so patterns you disable don't produce signals for you.
What happens to a signal I don't act on?
In manual mode it simply expires after 15 minutes and nothing is placed. In auto mode signals don't wait for you: each one goes straight to the risk checks and, if it passes, to the venue.