In terms of position of occurrence, wave structure and consequences the expanding triangle is the same as the regular contracting triangle. It can occur as a wave X, wave B or wave 4. It is a sideways movement. It consists of 5 waves marked a-b-c-d-e, structured 3-3-3-3-3. It also precedes the final movement of the trend of one larger degree. The only difference is its shape. Instead of contracting, it is expanding, which means that wave “a” is the smallest and wave “e” the biggest. Example:
On a real chart the expanding triangle looks like the one below:
The expanding triangle is a very tricky pattern, because price is making new lows and new highs in each wave. On that real chart example you can see that the triangle is a B wave, which precedes the final movement of the sequence – wave C. Afterwards, there is a sharp reversal.