Study breakouts that worked - and failed

We realized there’s a huge gap in learning resources for traders: everyone showcases successful breakouts, but no one talks about failed ones—which are far more common in real trading.

So we studied years of historical breakout patterns and created a visual database of both successes and failures, to help traders learn from the past, spot higher-probability setups, and build confidence in their next trade.

BreakoutDB is completely free for now. We’re focused on building the best educational tool for active traders, and your feedback is what helps us improve.

Yes! On any pattern page, click the “Export to CSV” button to download detailed data, including all key fields—perfect for your own analysis, charting, or model building.

If you use or share this data, please credit us by citing: "breakoutDB.com – Study breakouts that worked - and failed".

BreakoutDB is built for swing traders—those who typically hold positions for a few days to a few weeks. It's also ideal for anyone looking to sharpen their pattern recognition skills using real-world market examples, not just handpicked winners.

We keep it simple. Our approach, inspired by Kristjan Qullamaggie and Dan Zanger, typically involves selling half the position after a 20% gain, then trailing the remainder using the 10-day EMA—whichever comes first. We also avoid holding positions through earnings reports to reduce risk.

We follow a few other basic risk rules—for example, we exit immediately if the stock gaps down more than 5% at the open.

We define success as any trade that achieves a 10% gain before triggering our exit rules. If it doesn’t reach that threshold before we're forced to sell, we consider it a failure.

For trades still in progress, we give them the benefit of the doubt and mark them as successful for now, with updates provided as outcomes become clear.