Saturday, December 27, 2008

10 candlestick patterns you must know

By Mark Deaton

There are literally hundreds of candlestick patterns that traders use to increase their trading performance. Best used with other technical analysis tools, here are the top 10 patterns that provide the most consistent results.

* The dark cloud cover: This 2 candlestick high probability formation is bearish. Generally the first candlestick is continuing the bull trend and the next candlestick will gap up and open appearing to continue the trend, but fail to make any bullish headway and close well below the open and well into the real body of the first candlestick.

* Doji: Sometimes called a Doji star because the candlestick resembles a star. The doji star forms when the buyers and sellers are equal and price remains relatively static. There can be variances in the high and low a little, but the open and close are very close.

* The engulfing pattern: The classic engulfing pattern consists of two candlesticks. The first candlestick open then closes, then the second has an open and close outside the open and close of the previous candlestick, thereby engulfing the previous session.

* Evening star candlestick: This is a 3 bar bearish candlestick pattern. The first candlestick will be a rather strong white candlestick the second is a gap up short bodied candlestick indicating a weakness in bullish strength, then the final is a gap down bearish black candlestick where typically the low reaches beyond the 50% mark of candlestick #1.

* Hammer: When trading occurs significantly below the open, but ends well above the low and closes as its high, the candlestick formed has only one tail below its body. When this formation occurs during a downtrend, it often signals a reversal.

* Hanging man: The hanging man is still a hammer, but when its on an uptrend its called a hanging man. Look to the long tail for the intuitiveness in the candlestick. Price pushed down but failed to stay there, this is bullish and so the hanging man tells us the trend will continue. A continuation candlestick.

* Harami: This is a simple two day candlestick pattern that has a relatively small body on the second day that is completely surpassed on both sides by the previous day's candlestick and is always of the opposite color. It usually occurs during a minor correction in a bear or bull market and signals that this temporary uptrend or downtrend is reaching an end, and the underlying trend will continue. It is especially considered a strong indicator when it appears together with low trading volume.

* Morning star pattern: A bullish 3 bar pattern. The morning star pattern will start out bearish continuing the prevailing trend. Then it will gap down and turn up ever slowly closing above but near the open. The next day BAM, it will gap up and close much higher than the open.

* Piercing line pattern: This pattern is a bullish reversal pattern with two candlestick in the formation. The first will continue the downtrend. The second candlestick will gap down appearing to continue the trend but will ultimately close higher than the open and well within the real body of candlestick #1.

* Shooting star: This is a single candlestick pattern. It looks like an upside down hammer and signals a bearish reversal. As such it's best when found on a bullish uptrend. Look to the long upper witch for the intuitiveness in this candlestick. The bulls pushed hard like they did in the prevailing trend but the bears won the race by days end closing near the low / open.

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