Before investing or trading, it is important to develop a strategy or game plan that is consistent with your goals and style. The ultimate goal is to make money (win), but there are many different methods to go about it.As with many aspects of trading, many sports offer a good analogy. A football team with goals geared towards ball control and low-scoring games might adapt a conservative style that focuses on the run. Teams that want to score often and score quickly are more likely to pursue an aggressive style geared towards passing. Teams are usually aware of their goal and style before they develop a game plan. Investors and traders can also benefit by keeping in mind their goals and style when developing a strategy.

Goals

First and foremost are goals. The first set of questions regarding goals should center on risk and return. One cannot consider return without weighing risk. It is akin to counting your chickens before they are hatched. Risk and return are highly correlated. The higher the potential return, the higher the potential risk. At one end of the spectrum are US Treasury bonds, which offer the lowest risk (so-called risk free rate) and a guaranteed return. For stocks, the highest potential returns (and risk) center around growth industries with stock prices that exhibit high volatility and high price multiples (PE, Price/Sales, Price/Hope). The lowest potential returns (and risk) come from stocks in mature industries with stock prices that exhibit relatively low volatility and low price multiples.

Style

After your goals have been established, it is time to develop or choose a style that is consistent with achieving those goals. The expected return and desired risk will affect your trading or investing style. If your goal is income and safety, buying or selling at extreme levels (overbought/oversold) is an unlikely style. If your goals center on quick profits, high returns and high risk, then bottom picking strategies and gap trading may be your style.Styles range from aggressive day traders looking to scalp 1/4-1/2 point gains to investors looking to capitalize on long-term macro economic trends. In between, there are a whole host of possible combinations including swing traders, position traders, aggressive growth investors, value investors and contrarians. Swing traders might look for 1-5 day trades, position traders for 1-8 week trades and value investors for 1-2 year trades.

Not only will your style depend on your goals, but also on your level of commitment. Day traders are likely to pursue an aggressive style with high activity levels. The goals would be focused on quick trades, small profits and very tight stop-loss levels. Intraday charts would be used to provide timely entry and exit points. A high level of commitment, focus and energy would be required.

On the other hand, position traders are likely to use daily end-of-day charts and pursue 1-8 week price movements. The goal would be focused on short to intermediate price movements and the level of commitment, while still substantial, would be less than a day trader. Make sure your level of commitment jibes with your trading style. The more trading involved, the higher the level of commitment.

Strategy

Once the goals have been set and preferred style adopted, it is time to develop a strategy. This strategy would be based on your return/risk preferences, trading/investing style and commitment level. Because there are many potential trading and investing strategies, I am going to focus on one hypothetical strategy as an example.GOAL: First, the goal would be a 20-30% annual return. This is quite high and would involve a correspondingly high level of risk. Because of the associated risk, I would only allot a small percentage (5-10%) of my portfolio to this strategy. The remaining portion would go towards a more conservative approach.

STYLE: Although I like to follow the market throughout the day, I cannot make the commitment to day trading and use of intraday charts. I would pursue a position trading style and look for 1-8 week price movements based on end-of-day charts. Indicators will be limited to three with price action (candlesticks) and chart patterns will carry the most influence.

Part of this style would involve a strict money management scheme that would limit losses by imposing a stop-loss immediately after a trade is initiated. An exit strategy must be in place before the trade is initiated. Should the trade become a winner, the exit strategy would be revised to lock in gains. The maximum allowed per trade would be 5% of my total trading capital. If my total portfolio were 300,000, then I might allocate 21,000 (7%) to the trading portfolio. Of this 21,000, the maximum allowed per trade would be 1050 (21,000 * 5%).

STRATEGY: The trading strategy is to go long stocks that are near support levels and short stocks near resistance levels. To maintain prudence, I would only seek long positions in stocks with weekly (long-term) bull trends and short positions in stocks with weekly (long-term) bear trends. In addition, I would look for stocks that are starting to show positive (or negative) divergences in key momentum indicators as well as signs of accumulation (or distribution). My indicator arsenal would consist of two momentum indicators (PPO and Slow Stochastic Oscillator) and one volume indicator (Accumulation/Distribution Line). Even though the PPO and the Slow Stochastic Oscillator are momentum oscillators, one is geared towards the direction of momentum (PPO) and the other towards identifying overbought and oversold levels (Slow Stochastic Oscillator). As triggers, I would use key candlestick patterns, price reversals and gaps to enter a trade.

This is just one hypothetical strategy that combines goals with style and commitment. Some people have different portfolios that represent different goals, styles and strategies. While this can become confusing and quite time consuming, separate portfolios ensure that investment activities pursue a different strategy than trading activities. For instance, you may pursue an aggressive (high-risk) strategy for trading with a small portion of your portfolio and a relatively conservative (capital preservation) strategy for investing with the bulk of your portfolio. If a small percentage (~5-10%) is earmarked for trading and the bulk (~90-95%) for investing, the equity swings should be lower and the emotional strains less. However, if too much of a portfolio (~50-60%) is at risk through aggressive trading, the equity swings and the emotional strain could be large.

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I must admit, I am not smart enough to have devised these ridiculously simple trading rules. A great trader gave them to me some 15 years ago. However, I will tell you, they work. If you follow these rules, breaking them as infrequently as possible, you will make money year in and year out, some years better than others, some years worse - but you will make money. The rules are simple. Adherence to the rules is difficult.

“Old Rules…but Very Good Rules”

If I’ve learned anything in my 17 years of trading, I’ve learned that the simple methods work best. Those who need to rely upon complex stochastics, linear weighted moving averages, smoothing techniques, Fibonacci numbers etc., usually find that they have so many things rolling around in their heads that they cannot make a rational decision. One technique says buy; another says sell. Another says sit tight while another says add to the trade. It sounds like a cliche, but simple methods work best.

1. The first and most important rule is - in bull markets, one is supposed to be long. This may sound obvious, but how many of us have sold the first rally in every bull market, saying that the market has moved too far, too fast. I have before, and I suspect I’ll do it again at some point in the future. Thus, we’ve not enjoyed the profits that should have accrued to us for our initial bullish outlook, but have actually lost money while being short. In a bull market, one can only be long or on the sidelines. Remember, not having a position is a position.

2. Buy that which is showing strength - sell that which is showing weakness. The public continues to buy when prices have fallen. The professional buys because prices have rallied. This difference may not sound logical, but buying strength works. The rule of survival is not to “buy low, sell high”, but to “buy higher and sell higher”. Furthermore, when comparing various stocks within a group, buy only the strongest and sell the weakest.

3. When putting on a trade, enter it as if it has the potential to be the biggest trade of the year. Don’t enter a trade until it has been well thought out, a campaign has been devised for adding to the trade, and contingency plans set for exiting the trade.

4. On minor corrections against the major trend, add to trades. In bull markets, add to the trade on minor corrections back into support levels. In bear markets, add on corrections into resistance. Use the 33-50% corrections level of the previous movement or the proper moving average as a first point in which to add.

5. Be patient. If a trade is missed, wait for a correction to occur before putting the trade on.

6. Be patient. Once a trade is put on, allow it time to develop and give it time to create the profits you expected.

7. Be patient. The old adage that “you never go broke taking a profit” is maybe the most worthless piece of advice ever given. Taking small profits is the surest way to ultimate loss I can think of, for small profits are never allowed to develop into enormous profits. The real money in trading is made from the one, two or three large trades that develop each year. You must develop the ability to patiently stay with winning trades to allow them to develop into that sort of trade.

8. Be patient. Once a trade is put on, give it time to work; give it time to insulate itself from random noise; give it time for others to see the merit of what you saw earlier than they.

9. Be impatient. As always, small loses and quick losses are the best losses. It is not the loss of money that is important. Rather, it is the mental capital that is used up when you sit with a losing trade that is important.

10. Never, ever under any condition, add to a losing trade, or “average” into a position. If you are buying, then each new buy price must be higher than the previous buy price. If you are selling, then each new selling price must be lower. This rule is to be adhered to without question.

11. Do more of what is working for you, and less of what’s not. Each day, look at the various positions you are holding, and try to add to the trade that has the most profit while subtracting from that trade that is either unprofitable or is showing the smallest profit. This is the basis of the old adage, “let your profits run.”

12. Don’t trade until the technicals and the fundamentals both agree. This rule makes pure technicians cringe. I don’t care! I will not trade until I am sure that the simple technical rules I follow, and my fundamental analysis, are running in tandem. Then I can act with authority, and with certainty, and patiently sit tight.

13. When sharp losses in equity are experienced, take time off. Close all trades and stop trading for several days. The mind can play games with itself following sharp, quick losses. The urge “to get the money back” is extreme, and should not be given in to.

14. When trading well, trade somewhat larger. We all experience those incredible periods of time when all of our trades are profitable. When that happens, trade aggressively and trade larger. We must make our proverbial “hay” when the sun does shine.

15. When adding to a trade, add only 1/4 to 1/2 as much as currently held. That is, if you are holding 400 shares of a stock, at the next point at which to add, add no more than 100 or 200 shares. That moves the average price of your holdings less than half of the distance moved, thus allowing you to sit through 50% corrections without touching your average price.

16. Think like a guerrilla warrior. We wish to fight on the side of the market that is winning, not wasting our time and capital on futile efforts to gain fame by buying the lows or selling the highs of some market movement. Our duty is to earn profits by fighting alongside the winning forces. If neither side is winning, then we don’t need to fight at all.

17. Markets form their tops in violence; markets form their lows in quiet conditions.

18. The final 10% of the time of a bull run will usually encompass 50% or more of the price movement. Thus, the first 50% of the price movement will take 90% of the time and will require the most backing and filling and will be far more difficult to trade than the last 50%.

There is no “genius” in these rules. They are common sense and nothing else, but as Voltaire said, “Common sense is uncommon.” Trading is a common-sense business. When we trade contrary to common sense, we will lose. Perhaps not always, but enormously and eventually. Trade simply. Avoid complex methodologies concerning obscure technical systems and trade according to the major trends only.

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John Murphy, is a very popular author, columnist, and speaker on the subject of Technical Analysis. John’s “Ten Laws of Technical Trading” is the best guide available anywhere for people who are new to the field of charting. I urge you to print out this page and refer to it often. If you find this information useful, consider subscribing to John’s Market Message Service.Which way is the market moving? How far up or down will it go? And when will it go the other way? These are the basic concerns of the technical analyst. Behind the charts and graphs and mathematical formulas used to analyze market trends are some basic concepts that apply to most of the theories employed by today’s technical analysts.

John Murphy, has drawn upon his thirty years of experience in the field to develop ten basic laws of technical trading: rules that are designed to help explain the whole idea of technical trading for the beginner and to streamline the trading methodology for the more experienced practitioner. These precepts define the key tools of technical analysis and how to use them to identify buying and selling opportunities.

John was the technical analyst for CNBC-TV for seven years on the popular show Tech Talk, and has authored three best-selling books on the subject: Technical Analysis of the Financial Markets, Intermarket Technical Analysis and The Visual Investor.

His most recent book demonstrates the essential visual elements of technical analysis. The fundamentals of John’s approach to technical analysis illustrate that it is more important to determine where a market is going (up or down) rather than the why behind it.

The following are John’s ten most important rules of technical trading:

1. Map the Trends

2. Spot the Trend and Go With It

3. Find the Low and High of It

4. Know How Far to Backtrack

5. Draw the Line

6. Follow That Average

7. Learn the Turns

8. Know the Warning Signs

9. Trend or Not a Trend?

10. Know the Confirming Signs

1. Map the Trends

Study long-term charts. Begin a chart analysis with monthly and weekly charts spanning several years. A larger scale map of the market provides more visibility and a better long-term perspective on a market. Once the long-term has been established, then consult daily and intra-day charts. A short-term market view alone can often be deceptive. Even if you only trade the very short term, you will do better if you’re trading in the same direction as the intermediate and longer term trends.

2. Spot the Trend and Go With It

Determine the trend and follow it. Market trends come in many sizes – long-term, intermediate-term and short-term. First, determine which one you’re going to trade and use the appropriate chart. Make sure you trade in the direction of that trend. Buy dips if the trend is up. Sell rallies if the trend is down. If you’re trading the intermediate trend, use daily and weekly charts. If you’re day trading, use daily and intra-day charts. But in each case, let the longer range chart determine the trend, and then use the shorter term chart for timing.

3. Find the Low and High of It

Find support and resistance levels. The best place to buy a market is near support levels. That support is usually a previous reaction low. The best place to sell a market is near resistance levels. Resistance is usually a previous peak. After a resistance peak has been broken, it will usually provide support on subsequent pullbacks. In other words, the old “high” becomes the new low. In the same way, when a support level has been broken, it will usually produce selling on subsequent rallies – the old “low” can become the new “high.”

4. Know How Far to Backtrack

Measure percentage retracements. Market corrections up or down usually retrace a significant portion of the previous trend. You can measure the corrections in an existing trend in simple percentages. A fifty percent retracement of a prior trend is most common. A minimum retracement is usually one-third of the prior trend. The maximum retracement is usually two-thirds. Fibonacci retracements of 38% and 62% are also worth watching. During a pullback in an uptrend, therefore, initial buy points are in the 33-38% retracement area.

5. Draw the Line

Draw trend lines. Trend lines are one of the simplest and most effective charting tools. All you need is a straight edge and two points on the chart. Up trend lines are drawn along two successive lows. Down trend lines are drawn along two successive peaks. Prices will often pull back to trend lines before resuming their trend. The breaking of trend lines usually signals a change in trend. A valid trend line should be touched at least three times. The longer a trend line has been in effect, and the more times it has been tested, the more important it becomes.

6. Follow that Average

Follow moving averages. Moving averages provide objective buy and sell signals. They tell you if existing trend is still in motion and help confirm a trend change. Moving averages do not tell you in advance, however, that a trend change is imminent. A combination chart of two moving averages is the most popular way of finding trading signals. Some popular futures combinations are 4- and 9-day moving averages, 9- and 18-day, 5- and 20-day. Signals are given when the shorter average line crosses the longer. Price crossings above and below a 40-day moving average also provide good trading signals. Since moving average chart lines are trend-following indicators, they work best in a trending market.

7. Learn the Turns

Track oscillators. Oscillators help identify overbought and oversold markets. While moving averages offer confirmation of a market trend change, oscillators often help warn us in advance that a market has rallied or fallen too far and will soon turn. Two of the most popular are the Relative Strength Index (RSI) and Stochastics. They both work on a scale of 0 to 100. With the RSI, readings over 70 are overbought while readings below 30 are oversold. The overbought and oversold values for Stochastics are 80 and 20. Most traders use 14-days or weeks for stochastics and either 9 or 14 days or weeks for RSI. Oscillator divergences often warn of market turns. These tools work best in a trading market range. Weekly signals can be used as filters on daily signals. Daily signals can be used as filters for intra-day charts.

8. Know the Warning Signs

Trade MACD. The Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) indicator (developed by Gerald Appel) combines a moving average crossover system with the overbought/oversold elements of an oscillator. A buy signal occurs when the faster line crosses above the slower and both lines are below zero. A sell signal takes place when the faster line crosses below the slower from above the zero line. Weekly signals take precedence over daily signals. An MACD histogram plots the difference between the two lines and gives even earlier warnings of trend changes. It’s called a “histogram” because vertical bars are used to show the difference between the two lines on the chart.

9. Trend or Not a Trend

Use ADX. The Average Directional Movement Index (ADX) line helps determine whether a market is in a trending or a trading phase. It measures the degree of trend or direction in the market. A rising ADX line suggests the presence of a strong trend. A falling ADX line suggests the presence of a trading market and the absence of a trend. A rising ADX line favors moving averages; a falling ADX favors oscillators. By plotting the direction of the ADX line, the trader is able to determine which trading style and which set of indicators are most suitable for the current market environment.

10. Know the Confirming Signs

Include volume and open interest. Volume and open interest are important confirming indicators in futures markets. Volume precedes price. It’s important to ensure that heavier volume is taking place in the direction of the prevailing trend. In an uptrend, heavier volume should be seen on up days. Rising open interest confirms that new money is supporting the prevailing trend. Declining open interest is often a warning that the trend is near completion. A solid price uptrend should be accompanied by rising volume and rising open interest.

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When deciding on a trade or investment, be it short, intermediate or long term, multiple time frame analysis can help clear the noise and offer a balanced view.

Multiple time frame analysis!?! It sounds complicated and fancy, but it simply refers to the same chart with more than one time compression (e.g. daily or weekly). When both the weekly and the daily charts are in harmony, the chances of success can be greatly enhanced.

The essence of the strategy is easy: Use the higher time frame price activity to define the tradable trend as well as potential support and resistance levels.

Markets exist in several time frames simultaneously. They exist on a 10 minute chart, an hourly chart, a daily chart, a weekly chart, and any other chart. Traders often feel confused when they look at charts in different time frames and they see the markets going in several directions at once.

The market may look for a buy on a daily chart and a sell on the weekly chart, and vice versa. The signals in different time frames of the same market often contradict one another. Which of them will you follow? Most traders pick one time frame and close their eyes to others – until a sudden move outside of “their” time frame hits them.

Daily charts are great, but participants can get caught up in the move of the moment. Even though daily charts can contain random movements, they do have their strengths. Once an underlying trend is identified, daily charts can be useful to pick entry and exit points. On the other hand, weekly charts filter out the random movements and can help identify the stronger under currents that are driving the price.

The same idea applies if you are trading any security on a daily basis, in which case, the weekly bars will be the basis for the trend as well as the important support and resistance points. That is the foundation of multiple time frame trading. Besides the effectiveness of using a method based on a multiple time frame approach, another advantage is the method need not be complicated. A trader can make his or her method as simple or as complicated as desired. For us at www.TradersEdgeIndia.com, the simpler the application, the better the results.

The proper way to analyze any market is to analyze it in at least two or three time frames. If you analyze daily charts, you must first examine the weekly charts and so on. This search for greater perspective is one of the key reasons for the success of our newsletter services.

Look at the daily chart of NSE Nifty below. What does it tell you. Most traders would say that it is just the beginning of a downtrend and would be happy to short the market all th way down. Well, most traders are not successful! To be successful in trading any market, one has to first examine the trend on a higher time frame.

Now look at the chart below of the same security. This is a chart of one time frame higher than the one above. What does it tell you? Simply, that the long term trend is bullish, and I should be looking to go long rather than short.

To make our trading signals more accurate and to provide you with the edge in trading our analysis which goes into each of our newsletter services incorporates not one but all three time frames.

By incorporating the multiple time frame trading method in our newsletter services, you as our subscribers will take only those trades with the most profitable potential and to stay out situations where there is marginal or least profitable potential.

This our newsletter services will help and investor or trader to get into the real trend and stay out of most range bound trading that eats away at your profits.

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An Introduction to Japanese Candlestick ChartingBy Erik Gebhard

Introduction…a New Way to Look at Prices

Would you like to learn about a type of commodity futures price chart that is more effective than the type you are probably using now? If so, keep reading. If you are brand new to the art/science of chart reading, don’t worry, this stuff is really quite simple to learn.

Technical Analysis…a Brief Background

Technical analysis is simply the study of prices as reflected on price charts. Technical analysis assumes that current prices should represent all known information about the markets. Prices not only reflect intrinsic facts, they also represent human emotion and the pervasive mass psychology and mood of the moment. Prices are, in the end, a function of supply and demand. However, on a moment to moment basis, human emotions…fear, greed, panic, hysteria, elation, etc. also dramatically effect prices. Markets may move based upon people’s expectations, not necessarily facts. A market “technician” attempts to disregard the emotional component of trading by making his decisions based upon chart formations, assuming that prices reflect both facts and emotion.

Standard bar charts are commonly used to convey price activity into an easily readable chart. Usually four elements make up a bar chart, the Open, High, Low, and Close for the trading session/time period. A price bar can represent any time frame the user wishes, from 1 minute to 1 month. The total vertical length/height of the bar represents the entire trading range for the period. The top of the bar represents the highest price of the period, and the bottom of the bar represents the lowest price of the period. The Open is represented by a small dash to the left of the bar, and the Close for the session is a small dash to the right of the bar. Below is a standard bar chart example.

Candlestick Charts Explained

You may be asking yourself, “If I can already use bar charts to view prices, then why do I need another type of chart?”

The answer to this question may not seem obvious, but after going through the following candlestick chart explanations and examples, you will surely see value in the different perspective candlesticks bring to the table. In my opinion, they are much more visually appealing, and convey the price information in a quicker, easier manner.

What is the History of Candlestick Charts?

Candlestick charts are on record as being the oldest type of charts used for price prediction. They date back to the 1700’s, when they were used for predicting rice prices. In fact, during this era in Japan, Munehisa Homma become a legendary rice trader and gained a huge fortune using candlestick analysis. He is said to have executed over 100 consecutive winning trades!

The candlesticks themselves and the formations they shape were give colorful names by the Japanese traders. Due in part to the military environment of the Japanese feudal system during this era, candlestick formations developed names such as “counter attack lines” and the “advancing three soldiers”. Just as skill, strategy, and psychology are important in battle, so too are they important elements when in the midst of trading battle.

What do Candlesticks Look Like?

Candlestick charts are much more visually appealing than a standard two-dimensional bar chart. As in a standard bar chart, there are four elements necessary to construct a candlestick chart, the OPEN, HIGH, LOW and CLOSING price for a given time period. Below are examples of candlesticks and a definition for each candlestick component:

 

• The body of the candlestick is called the real body, and represents the range between the open and closing prices.

• A black or filled-in body represents that the close during that time period was lower than the open, (normally considered bearish) and when the body is open or white, that means the close was higher than the open (normally bullish).

• The thin vertical line above and/or below the real body is called the upper/lower shadow, representing the high/low price extremes for the period.

Bar Compared to Candlestick Charts

Below is an example of the same price data conveyed in a standard bar chart and a candlestick chart. Notice how the candlestick chart appears 3-dimensional, as price data almost jumps out at you.

The long, dark, filled-in real bodies represent a weak (bearish) close ( 3a ), while a long open, light-colored real body represents a strong (bullish) close ( 3b ). It is important to note that Japanese candlestick analysts traditionally view the open and closing prices as the most critical of the day. At a glance, notice how much easier it is with candlesticks to determine if the closing price was higher or lower than the opening price.

Common Candlestick Terminology

The following is a list of some individual candlestick terms. It is important to realize that many formations occur within the context of prior candlesticks. What follows is merely a definition of terms, not formations.

• The Black Candlestick — when the close is lower than the open.

• The White Candlestick — when the close is higher than the open.

• The Shaven Head — a candlestick with no upper shadow.

• The Shaven Bottom — a candlestick with no lower shadow.

• Spinning Tops — candlesticks with small real bodies, and when appearing within a sideways choppy market, they represent equilibrium between the bulls and the bears. They can be either white or black.

• Doji Lines — have no real body, but instead have a horizontal line. This represents when the Open and Close are the same or very close. The length of the shadow can vary.

Candlestick Reversal Patterns

Just as many traders look to bar charts for double tops and bottoms, head-and-shoulders, and technical indicators for reversal signals, so too can candlestick formations be looked upon for the same purpose. A reversal does not always mean that the current uptrend/downtrend will reverse direction, but merely that the current direction may end. The market may then decide to drift sideways. Candlestick reversal patterns must be viewed within the context of prior activity to be effective. In fact, identical candlesticks may have different meanings depending on where they occur within the context of prior trends and formations.

• Hammer — a candlestick with a long lower shadow and small real body. The shadow should be at least twice the length of the real body, and there should be no or very little upper shadow. The body may be either black or white, but the key is that this candlestick must occur within the context of a downtrend to be considered a hammer. The market may be “hammering” out a bottom.

• Hanging Man — identical in appearance to the hammer, but appears within the context of an uptrend.

• Engulfing Patterns — Bullish — when a white, real body totally covers, “engulfs” the prior day’s real body. The market should be in a definable trend, not chopping around sideways. The shadows of the prior candlestick do not need to be engulfed.

• Bearish — when a black, real body totally covers, “engulfs” the prior day’s real body. The market should be in a definable trend, not chopping around sideways. The shadows of the prior candlestick do not need to be engulfed.

• Dark-Cloud Cover(bearish) — a top reversal formation where the first day of the pattern consists of a strong white, real body. The second day’s price opens above the top of the upper shadow of the prior candlestick, but the close is at or near the low of the day, and well into the prior white, real body.

• Piercing Pattern (bullish) — opposite of the dark-cloud cover. Occurs within a downtrend. The first candlestick having a black, real body, and the second has a long, white, real body. The white day opens sharply lower, under the low of the prior black day. Then, prices close above the 50% point of the prior day’s black real body.

Stars

These candlestick formations consist of a small real body that gaps away from the real body preceding it. The real body of the star should not overlap the prior real body. The color of the star is not too important, and they can occur at either tops or bottoms. Stars are the equivalent of gaps on standard bar charts.

Stars make up part of four separate reversal patterns:

Morning Star

Evening Star

Doji Star

Shooting Star (Inverted Hammer)

• Morning Star — this is a bullish bottom reversal pattern. The formation is comprised of 3 candlesticks. The first candlestick is a tall black real body followed by the second, a small real body, which gaps (opens), lower (a star pattern). The third candlestick is a white real body that moves well into the first period’s black real body. This is similar to an island pattern on standard bar charts.

• Evening Star — a bearish top reversal pattern and counterpart to the Morning Star. Three candlesticks compose the evening star, the first being long and white. The second forms a star, followed by the third, which has a black real body that moves sharply into the first white candlestick.

• Doji Stars — When a doji gaps above a real body in an uptrend, or gaps under a real body in a falling market, that particular doji is called a doji star. Two popular doji stars are the evening star and the morning star.

• Evening Doji Star — a doji star in an uptrend followed by a long, black real body that closed well into the prior white real body. If the candlestick after the doji star is white and gapped higher, the bearishness of the doji is invalidated.

  

• Morning Doji Star — a doji star in a downtrend followed by a long, white real body that closes well into the prior black real body. If the candlestick after the doji star is black and gapped lower, the bullishness of the doji is invalidated.

  

• Shooting Star – a small real body near the lower end of the trading range, with a long upper shadow. The color of the body is not critical. Not usually considered a major reversal sign, only a warning.

Inverted Hammer– not really a star, but does look like a shooting star. When occurring within a downtrend, may be a turning signal. Body color is not critical.

Final Thoughts and Credits

It is important to realize that this introduction is just that, an introduction to candlestick analysis. After having read this, you will have merely scratched the surface of the many patterns and variables that can go into candlestick analysis. No attempt was made to provide a thorough analysis of each and every pattern. In fact, many formations were left out as they cross the border into more complicated analysis. For a more complete overview of candlestick analysis, it is highly recommended that you read the book that is referred to below.

A large portion of the material in this introduction is taken from an excellent book called Japanese Candlestick Charting Techniques: A Contemporary Guide to the Ancient Investment Techniques of the Far East. In some cases, sentences were taken almost verbatim, as there was no better way to say what Mr. Steve Nison, the author, already said. In his book, Mr. Nison, completely explains candlesticks and their formations, but more importantly explains how to combine candlestick analysis with traditional technical analysis. It is highly recommended that you consider purchasing this book.

As traders, we need as many trading tools in our arsenal, and a basic knowledge of candlesticks provides a trader much needed ammunition. Also remember that no matter what the trading tool, no matter how advanced or ancient, it is only effective when put into practice properly. This is, of course, your job as the trader.

Regards,
Erik L. Gebhard
ALTAVEST Worldwide Trading, Inc.

Japanese candle stick candlestick charting method pattern

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