24 Candlestick Patterns: Every Trader Must Know

The price distance between the open and high is called the upper shadow. The price distance between the open and the low is called the lower shadow. Always check if the volume supports the story your candlestick pattern is telling you.

AB=CD Harmonic Pattern Trading

This Flag chart pattern is one of the simplest short-term chart patterns; so, its efficiency depends on numerous factors and is considered as an easy to handle pattern. This formation looks like a triangle, with a single, but very important difference. That is why the pattern can work out in either side, according to the pattern direction.

Candlestick Patterns in Forex: Bearish Patterns

Once these basics are well understood, traders can gradually expand to more complex patterns for deeper market insight. For example, a long upper wick shows that buyers initially pushed the price higher before sellers took over and dragged it back down. CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. In my early days, I’d trade every flag, wedge, or triangle I saw, even if they formed during choppy, sideways markets.

In Neck Bearish

Technical analysis suggests a few rules to identify a Flag pattern correctly. In the picture above, you can see a Flag, sloped down, which indicates that the price is about to head upwards. The trend indicates a corrective rollback, following the strong directed movement that often looks like a channel, sloped against the prevailing trend. The pattern represents two consecutive highs, whose peaks are roughly at the same level. The pattern can be both straight and sloped; in the latter case, you should carefully examine the tops’ bases that must be parallel to the highs. In the picture above, you can see one of the common symmetrical triangles that hasn’t yet been complete at the moment.

Evening Star Doji Candlestick Pattern

  • The second just suggests a lack of interest, making the pattern far less reliable.
  • The lengths of the upper and lower shadows can vary and the resulting candlestick looks like a cross, inverted cross, or plus sign.
  • It’s silencing the noise, trusting your system, and remembering that losses are just the price of doing business.

The bullish counterattack pattern consists of a bearish candlestick followed by a bullish candlestick that opens lower but closes at the same level as the previous candlestick’s close. The three-inside-up candlestick pattern is a bullish reversal signal formed by three candlesticks. Bullish chart patterns are price formations created by one or more individual candles on a Forex chart that signal a buying opportunity and a potential rally.

There are dozens of candlestick patterns used in trading, each showing different price behaviors and market psychology. In total, analysts recognize over 40 patterns, divided into bullish and bearish categories. The bullish engulfing pattern is a two-candle formation that signals a potential reversal from bearish to bullish market sentiment. It’s your chance to get positioned for a potential buy just as the sellers start getting exhausted and the bulls begin to wake up.

Shooting Star Candlestick Pattern

The Three White Soldiers is a bullish candlestick reversal pattern that appears after a downtrend. It consists of three consecutive long-bodied candles, each closing progressively higher. The candles usually have small or no wicks, which indicates strong buying pressure throughout the session. The analysis of a candlestick chart can be fine-tuned based on your preferred trading strategy and time-frame.

Bearish reversal candlestick patterns show that sellers are in control, or regaining control of a movement. Now, you need to grasp that a candlestick pattern is a specific price formation created by one or more candles on a trading chart. Yes, it’s possible that you come across different patterns made from a single candle or from two to five candles grouped together. Nowadays, there are over a hundred patterns, officially described and recorded in the register of technical analysis; and new ones appear every day.

You enter a sell trade when the price, having passed down through the pattern support line, reaches or breaks through the local low, followed by the support breakout (Sell zone). The target profit is set at the distance equal to or shorter than the width of the biggest wave inside the pattern (Profit zone). A reasonable stop loss forex candlestick patterns here will be at the local high, preceding the support line breakout (stop zone).

Bullish Counterattack Line

It is reasonable to place a buy order when the price, having broken out the resistance line, reaches or exceeds the last local high, preceding the resistance breakout (Buy zone). Sometimes, you may lose about 3% of the price movement between the point of the resistance breakout and your entry. Target profit can be put at the distance, equal to or less than the breadth of the pattern’s first wave.

Mat Hold Bullish

You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money. These patterns work effectively across all markets and timeframes because they reflect universal market psychology. These charts provide insights into price movements, making them versatile tools for analyzing different markets.

  • You may put a stop loss around the level of the local high, preceding the neckline breakout, or at the level of the right shoulder (Stop zone).
  • Yes, it’s possible that you come across different patterns made from a single candle or from two to five candles grouped together.
  • This means the big green candle opens lower than the previous day’s close and closes higher than its open.
  • Therefore, by the time of candlestick closing, the market hasn’t yet determined the new ongoing trend, as the demand and the supply are almost equal.
  • The very concept of candlestick charts used in forex trading comes from Japanese rice farmers in the 18th century.

This is what keeps emotion out of the equation and ensures you’re managing your risk like a pro. What this pattern shows you, plain as day, is that the bears’ attempt to reverse things was weak and got shut down. By learning this language, you can start to see the emotions driving the market—like greed, fear, and indecision—that a simple line chart could never show you.

Now, if you are ready to pull off your first trade, make sure to take a moment and read the chart like a map. So next time you come across a Doji or Engulfing setup on your EUR/USD chart, don’t guess. Step back, confirm the structure, check the volume, and measure the risk.

A pattern with confluence—popping up at a key level with indicator confirmation—is a strategic opportunity. This is the foundation of a professional price action trading strategy. This pattern reveals a dramatic battle within a single trading session. The long upper wick shows that, for a moment, buyers were in complete control, pushing prices significantly higher and trying to continue the trend. The bears stepped in aggressively, rejecting those higher prices and shoving the price all the way back down to close near its open.

Think of them like a pit stop in a Formula 1 race, not the end of the race itself. For a trader, being able to spot these pauses is a massive advantage. It’s what separates traders who get scared and jump out of a great trade too early from those who confidently ride the wave for much bigger gains. The Morning Star is so highly regarded because it doesn’t just show a sudden reversal; it shows a gradual but decisive transfer of power from sellers to buyers. This makes it a very reliable indicator of a potential new uptrend. To really get a feel for these patterns, you have to understand what a candlestick is actually telling you.

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