Candlestick chart was developed in 1700s in Japan by a man named Munehisa Homma. Originally designed to trade rice future, he invented a method to analyze the price with an overview of the open, high, low and close prices of each trading day over a certain period of time.
A line, known as shadow, was drawn to show the day’s price range. The broader part of the candlestick represents the area between the session’s opening price and the closing price, known as real body.
If the opening price is lower than the closing price (i.e. a rising day), then the body is white; if the opening price is higher than the closing price (i.e. a falling day), then the body is black.
As the style of charting is relatively easier to read and understand, it became very popular. Analysts relate the chart patterns to various bullish or bearish signals, which were considered quite reliable in predicting future market directions.
The color (white or black) and the length of the real body exhibit the market forces, whether bulls/demand or bears/supply are winning. Generally speaking, the longer body indicates the more intense in buying or selling pressure (e.g. long white candlesticks reveal strong buying interest, i.e. buyers are very aggressive) whilst shorter real body normally suggests indecisive market situation and further sideways consolidation would take place.
According to different combinations of candlesticks, various bullish and bearish patterns were found and we are going to discuss some of those major patterns here.
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Contents
I: INTRODUCTION
II: MAJOR BULLISH PATTERNS
- HAMMER
- DOJI
- MORNING STAR
- HARAMI
- BULLISH ENGULFING PATTERN
III. MORE BULLISH PATTERNS
- PIERCING LINE
- THREE WHITE SOLDIERS
- RISING THREE METHODS
IV: MAJOR BEARISH PATTERNS
- SHOOTING STAR
- DOJI
- EVENING STAR
- HARAMI
- BEARISH ENGULFING PATTERN
V: MORE BEARISH PATTERNS
- DARK CLOUD COVER
- THREE BLACK CROWS
- FALLING THREE METHODS
VI: CONCLUSIONS