This thread will easily confuse any new trader about Japanese Candlesticks or Candlestick charts because there are two main conversations occuring in this thread...
* Do Japanese Candlestick patterns provide any useful trading info to help a trader profit ???
* Do Candlestick charts have an advantage over Bar charts, Line charts, PnF charts or any other type of charts ???
Lets talk chart types.
Most traders that use candlestick charts do not trade via Japanese Candlestick patterns.
Simply, they are using candlestick charts because the prefer this type of chart over other types of charts for whatever reason.
However, from my own personal experience and via discussions with other traders...
I can see the changes in supply/demand much faster via candlestick charts in comparison to using bar charts or any other charts.
Regardless, as bighog saids, if you understand the price action...
It really doesn't matter what type of chart you use.
Yet, candlestick charts first caught my eye because they look pretty in comparison to bar charts.
Lets talk patterns.
* Don't use Japanese Candlestick patterns to define the price action.
Thus, you should already understand the price action before the appearance of any Japanese Candlestick pattern or any other type of pattern signal.
* Don't use Japanese Candlestick patterns alone as in all by themselves.
In fact, they should only be used as confirmation only to what you already know about the price action or as a confirmation to your primary method.
* Trade Management
after Entry involving Japanese Candlestick trade signals is critical along with having a big impact upon the reliability of any candlestick pattern.
* All books show only the generic (basic) Japanese Candlestick patterns.
Thus, only use Japanese Candlestick books as a dictionary or definition source.
* Every Japanese Candlestick pattern can be broken down into sub-groups.
For example, I've documented about 15 different types of Bullish White Hammer patterns...
12 of them are not reliable via how I trade them but may be reliable for someone else that has a different market approach.
* Stay away from the candlestick pattern recognition computer software or codes because they involve the generic patterns...
Stuff I wouldn't risk one penny on.
Thus, Japanese Candlesticks is suitable
only for discretionary traders and you should only learn them without the assistance of some computer code.
* Don't try to learn all nor a lot of Japanese Candlestick patterns.
Select one or two patterns only and spend a few years mastering it.
Good place to start are any candlestick pattern thats part of the Long Shadow Family (e.g. Bullish White Hammer pattern, Bearish Dark Inverted Hammer pattern, Bullish Long Legged Doji pattern et cetera).
* Time frame has no impact on the reliability.
This gets back to understanding the price action prior to the appearance of any pattern signal.
Therefore, the 1min chart is just as reliable as the Daily chart.
However, you can use time frame to control the number of pattern signals you get.
Thus, does have an impact on the number of pattern signals you get.
Ignore any of the above...
Eventually you'll show up somewhere online to say Japanese Candlesticks patterns are useless or don't work. :eek:
By the way, they work well for me as clues to enter a particular price action only if I understand the price action prior to the appearance of the clue.
Simply, I'm also saying that just because you get a valid Japanese Candlestick pattern...
It doesn't imply it's tradable which is something many backtesters of Japanese Candlesticks have difficulties with.
Mark
(a.k.a.
NihabaAshi) Japanese Candlestick term and Martial Arts term