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The Volatility Contraction Pattern, (VCP) is a famous trading pattern identified and dissected by Market Wizard, Mark Minervini. The premise of the pattern is that stocks in long term up trends will pause and consolidate as some holders exit their positions and the stock is accumulated again by buyers in the market. The chart pattern can provide opportunities for powerful break outs and can be used across any time frame.

This allows traders to jump in on potential moves before they explode. Mechanics of the pattern The background of the pattern is relatively simple. The stock has been previously rising in an uptrend and has found some resistance.

It then moves into a period of consolidation categorised by 2-6 retracements with each one being smaller than the previous one. The volume should usually be decreasing as the chart moves to the right. The pattern culminates in a powerful break out that can often be long lasting.

The key for this pattern is that there needs to be a contraction of volatility as the chart moves from the left to the right. This highlights that the volume available is decreasing and becoming scarce. In addition, the more dramatic in volume, the more likely that the move will be explosive.

Below the breakout is accompanied by an increase in the relative volume. In the chart below for Natural Gas, the decrease in volume can be associated with the contracting candlestick pattern. This occurs prior to the break of the long-term resistance.

The breakthrough was also associated with a large amount of buying volume. The VCP can manifest itself in other patterns such as a cup and handle patterns. The key is that the candlesticks must be decreasing volatility.

A resistance level is a key tool in technical analysis, indicating when an asset has reached a price level that market participants are unwilling to surpass. Resistance levels are often used in conjunction with support levels, or the point at which traders are unwilling to let an asset's price drop much lower. To understand this fully, it’s important to understand how support and resistance works in general.

A support line is when a price hits a low point (on the selling side) and resistance is when the price hits a high (on the buying side). If the prices rebound back to this price or continue to hit this price without surpassing it, it then starts to become a key resistance or support level. As a rule of thumb when using technical analysis, these tools become very important for some traders.

This is due to those points offering various outcomes. Whether they are a Bounce or a Break, essentially meaning, does the price hit the support/resistance and comes back (Bounce) or does it go through the support/resistance lines (Breaks). It is important to also use other indicators to accompany your technical analysis, as these movements could also easily become reversals or break outs, meaning, instead of them following your prognosis the price does the opposite.

When a price has been rejected various times, it builds an even stronger key resistance. Trading volume and sentiment can help to propel a price past this point and some of the biggest movements come after a price breaks a key resistance. Using a current trend (Fig 1) and a hypothetical trend (Fig 2), let’s take the daily timeframe for BTCUSD as an example (below).

The daily candle has broken through a key resistance of $41,000 as shown on figure 1. If a trader identifies this, they can do one of two things; trade it aggressively and place a trade as it breaks through or trade it conservatively and wait for the former resistance line to become the new support line before placing a trade (so wait for the price to bounce off as outlined on the drawn projection and circled on figure 2). Figure 1.

Figure 2. This technical analysis can be used for any asset you wish to trade: it’s transferrable and key in identifying entry or exit points of trades. By learning to spot the patterns and combining this with knowledge of trading volume and sentiment, you can start to understand the markets better.

Sources: Babypips, Investopedia, @sell9000 Twitter.

Trading terms glossary A - B - C - D - E - F - G - H - I - J - K - L - M - N - O - P - Q - R - S - T - U - V - W - X - Y - Z - G Gapping Gapping is when the price of an asset moves higher or lower without any price activity in-between the pre-gap and post-gap prices. Learn more about Gapping. GDP Also known as Gross Domestic Product (GDP), it is the total value of goods and services manufactured in a country over a period of time.

It can also be used as the size and health indicator of a country's economy. Gearing ratio Gearing is a measurement of a company's financial leverage. In this context, leverage is the amount of funds acquired through creditor loans – or debt – compared to the funds acquired through equity capital.

Gross margin The amount of profit a company makes from its revenue is termed as Gross margin. GTC order This stands for `good `till cancelled` and is an instruction to buy or sell an asset at a specific limit. The order will remain valid and working in the market until it is either filled or cancelled.

Trading terms glossary A - B - C - D - E - F - G - H - I - J - K - L - M - N - O - P - Q - R - S - T - U - V - W - X - Y - Z - W West Texas Intermediate (WTI) West Texas Intermediate (WTI, also referred to as Texas Light Sweet) is an oil benchmark that is central to oil commodity trading. It is one of the three major oil benchmarks used in trading, along with Brent crude and Dubai/Oman. Working Order A Working Order typically refers to either a stop or limit order to open.

Working Orders are used to advise your broker to execute a trade when your desired tradable asset reaches a specified price. Learn more about Working Orders

Trading terms glossary A - B - C - D - E - F - G - H - I - J - K - L - M - N - O - P - Q - R - S - T - U - V - W - X - Y - Z - V Variable costs Variable cost refers to an expense which is subject to change when a products sales volumes change. Costs will typically increase or decrease when sales drop or rise, respectively. VIX Short for the Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index, the VIX is used to track S&P 500 index volatility.

It is arguably the most well-known volatility index on the market. Learn more about VIX Volatility A market’s volatility is its likelihood of making major, short-term price movements at any time. A high level of volatility can provide opportunity to make profitable trades in a short period of time.

Learn more about Volatility Volume Volume in trading refers to the amount of a particular asset being traded over a certain period of time. It's typically presented alongside price information and offers an extra dimension when examining the price history of an asset. Learn more about using Volume in trading.

Volume-weighted average price VWAP is a technical analysis tool which shows the ratio of an asset's price to its total trade volume. the VWAP provides traders with a measure of the average price a stock has traded at over a given period of time.

Trading terms glossary A - B - C - D - E - F - G - H - I - J - K - L - M - N - O - P - Q - R - S - T - U - V - W - X - Y - Z - U Unborrowable stock The stock that no one is willing to lend out to short sellers is known as an Unborrowable stock. The traditional means of short selling is impossible, when shares in a company are unborrowable.