Candlestick Profits

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Candlestick Profits

Simple Candlestick Techniques

and Strategies for Trading

Forex, Stocks and Options

Profitably

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Candlestick Profits

Simple Candlestick Techniques

and Strategies for Trading

Forex, Stocks and Options

Profitably

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Introduction

I want to thank you and congratulate you for downloading my

book,

book, Candlestick Profits.Candlestick Profits. This book contains proven techniquesThis book contains proven techniques

and strategies on how to trade candlestick charts successfully.

With techniques I manly mean the candlestick charting method.

Strategies are the patterns you trade in conjunction with your

trading plan.

You will observe charts on examples. Study them carefully. Don

not worry if you are a new trader and don not understand

everything at first. After all, every successful trader was a

beginner at some point. You too can learn these skills.

Candlestick charts are according to many successful traders the

best tool for trading stocks, options and forex. Used because

they achieve improvements in performance that result in profits

for both swing and day traders.

In Candlestick Profits, you will learn:

•

• How candlestick charting can give you an How candlestick charting can give you an edgeedge

•

• The most powerful candlestick patternsThe most powerful candlestick patterns

•

• Three trading strategiesThree trading strategies

•

• How to use candlestick in How to use candlestick in blend with technical analysisblend with technical analysis

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• And much, much more!And much, much more!

Thanks again for downloading, I really hope you get the best out

of this book! - Johan Nordstrom

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This document is geared towards providing exact and reliable

information in regards to the topic and issue covered. This

information is for your personal use only. You cannot distribute,

copy, reproduce, or otherwise sell this product or information in

any form whatsoever, including but not limited to: electronic, or

mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any

informational storage or retrieval system without expressed

written, dated and signed permission from the publisher. All

copyrights are reserved.

The information herein is offered for informational purposes

solely, and is universal as so. The presentation of the information

is without contract or any type of guarantee assurance, and

should not be considered specific investment advice. Examples

are provided for illustrative purposes only. Past performance is

not necessarily indicative of future results. Trading is associated

with risk and capital may decrease in value. If advice is

necessary, legal or professional, a practiced individual in the

profession should be ordered.

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Candlestick Charting

Candlestick charting has a valuable aspect. It is visually easy to see patterns and overall trend in the charts. This is an essential part for any technical trader to master. In today’s trading environment you need to have a clear plan and rules on how you will trade profitably. Fortunately, the graphic picture that candlestick charting express make it easy to take profitable actions.

The Power of Candlestick Charting

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moment, the bears are in control. Having the insight of change in sentiment and how traders react to price movements provides the candlestick trader with a powerful advantage.

Candlestick charting makes it easier for you to deal with the psychology of trading and feelings like greed and fear. Let me give you a few examples:

• Candlestick patterns will give you clear alerts if the

sentiment has changed and it is time to take profits.

• Candlestick patters will give you feedback on the strength

and weakness of the trend helping you spot reversals.

• Candlestick patterns will give you the confident in your

trading to avoid fear.

Candlestick History

The charting method was built over a four hundred-year period. Rationality dictates that a charting method that has endured that long must work. The first candlestick traders broke the trading period down to how the price opened, what the high and low was during the period, and how the price closed.

The patterns were analyzed trade after trade, and year after year. Many patterns were evaluated and the results were patterns that produced profits so pronounced that they have remained in existence for centuries. This fact alone is the most powerful testimony that candlestick charting works.

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How to Succeed with Candlestick Charting

Even though candlestick patterns will give you an edge over other traders, it is not a 100 percent winning method, so you will need to follow some general trading principles if you want to succeed:

• Have a trading plan - the set of rules and strategies you will

follow to profit in trading.

• Develop discipline - essential for helping you follow your

plan when you have had 3 or more losses in a row.

• Journal and track your trades - important for finding

mistakes and develop to become a better trader.

• Eliminate emotions - important for stopping fear and greed

to ruin your trading. Emotion free trading allows you to make rational decisions and you will not have to wish that the trade you just opened will work.

• Do not follow tips - traders who succeed are independent

and follow their own analysis.

• Before you open a trade - decide on the entry level, stop

loss level, and target level.

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• Allowed fear to scare you out at the bottom or greed to pull

you in at the top?

• Sold out of your profitable positions too early because you

are afraid they will pull back and turn into losses?

• Hung on to your losing positions as they ratchet down, each

little up-tick giving you hope, but finally selling out at the bottom because the pain is too great?

Recognizing and trading candlestick patterns puts you in control of your trading and helps you to avoid mistakes. Candlestick charting will also help you become a confident trader. If you have an objective view when trading, you will learn to quickly identify the trade that is not working, immediately exit the trade, then enter the next position where the probabilities are in your favor.

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Get An Advantage Over Other

Traders

An edge is defined as “an advantage over other people”. So you understand that having an edge when trading is important. Trading is a zero sum game, those with an edge win, and those without one lose. It is all about probabilities. Candlestick charts will provide you with a powerful edge that will help you profit.

Nothing is certain in trading and every moment and trade is unique, it is a numbers game. As a winning trader, you need to have an edge, an advantage that gives you the probability of winning over a series of trades. With an edge, you will have a positive expectancy to earn a lot of money every year round. You are making losses for some days each year but over the year, you will profit.

There is not a single trading system in the world that have a probability of hundred percent. The best ones have a probability of around 80 percent of getting winning trades. There are many strategies that are below 50 percent that still have a profitable outcome. The reason you can make money on such system is that profits are greater than the losses. Below you will learn the basics of how a system is designed. It depends on two factors:

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• How many winning trades in relation to losing trades you

have.

• How big winning trades is in relation to losing trades.

A winning trading strategy has a value above one when you multiply these two factors.

Examples of a system with an edge can be a system with win ratio of 50 percent (you win one of every two trades) and profits are five times larger than losses ($500 profit against $100 loss).

Another example of another system with an edge can be a system with win ratio of 80 percent (you win four out of five trades) and the profits are half of losses ($600 profit against $1.200 loss).

Candlestick techniques and strategies can give you an edge, using the techniques and strategies in this book you will be able to make better and faster chart analysis and thereby taking high probability trades.

Upgrade on Increase Your Edge

Candlestick charting is powerful like it is but when you combine it with our winning trading strategy or your favorite technical analysis technique you create an extremely powerful system.

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Candlestick Construction

Candlestick charting is so powerful it can be used in all time frames and in stocks, futures, forex and every other market that have an open, close, high and low. If we look at a daily time frame, one candle (session) represents that day’s trading range.

Above you can see how the candlestick is constructed and looks compared to a bar chart. The horizontal lines represent the open and the close. The painted section is the candle body. The candle body is green if the close is higher than the open. If the close is lower than the open, the candle body is read. The lines above and below the candle body are called tails. The top of the upper

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The Advantage Over Bar Charts

The different colors of the candle bodies provide rapid visual interpretations. A declining series of red candles is clearly interrupted when a green candle appears which attracts the attention of your eye immediately. This is something that would not happen when viewing bar charts.

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Upgrade on Emotion Free Charting

The color does not have to be red and green. Red and green coloring can actually be bad for some people because colors can be associated with negative emotions. Example; a series of big red candles form, a trader with negative feeling associated to red can get scared and avoid taking a trade. It can also be a series of green candles forming, a trader can feel overconfident that it is going to continue up when in fact it is right at a resistance level and ready to reverse.

I recommend you try different colors to find which combination you enjoy best. Black and white is a popular color scheme and so is green on black.

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Winning Patterns

In this chapter you will learn the winning bullish and bearish candlestick patterns to maximize profits. Candlestick patterns are mainly reversal signals, but that does not mean you only have to trade them for trend reversals. You can also trade candlestick patterns in pullbacks (or trend pauses).

The reason why trend reversals are hard to trade is since trends often takes time to stop and reverse. Think of a trend like a car driving on a road, it takes time for the car to stop (trend stop) and turn (trend reverse) if the speed is high (if the trend is strong).

Candlestick patterns can be used for both entry and exit signals, most other trading techniques only give you the entry signal, not the exit signal that often is the more important since you want to ride the trend as long as possible without giving up to much profit when the turning point comes.

Again, when you read this, remember, it is not important to remember every name of the candlestick techniques, instead focus on the power of the close in relation to the open and yesterdays close.

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Long Body Candle

A long body candle with no or short tail indicates strong buying or selling. The longer the body is, the more powerful the buying or selling activity. A small body candle with no or short tail implies very little buying or selling activity.

The bullish long body candle signals:

• Succeeding a bullish trend:

! The trend is intact and bulls are in control

! Note: if a long body candle appears late in a trend it

can be a blow out (last push before an retrace or reversal)

• Succeeding a bearish trend:

! Bulls surprises bears, possible trend reversal

! Note: it is not unusual for the price to retrace back to the 50% point of the long body candle before the

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reversal is confirmed (learn more in the strategy chapter; “The 50% Support Strategy”)

• In a neutral trend/consolidation:

! The bulls are ready to take control given that the close

of the candle is above the last high of the consolidation

! Note: this the preferred candle pattern to confirm breakouts (learn more in the strategy chapter; “The Break of Three Strategy”)

The bearish long body candle signals:

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continue in the bearish direction (learn more in the strategy chapter; “The 50% Resistance Strategy”)

! The trend is intact and bears are in control

! Note: if a long body candle appears late in a trend it can be a blow out (last push before an retrace or reversal)

! The bears are ready to take control given that the

close of the candle is above the last high

! Note: this the preferred candle pattern to confirm

breakouts (learn more in the strategy chapter; “The Break of Three Short Strategy”)

Doji and Small Body Candle

A session where the open and close has the same price is called a doji.

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A session where the open and close has almost the same price is called a small body candle and have the same logic as a doji. This is a candle that signals indecision between bulls and bears. The length of the tails will give you good information about the volatility. Longer tails imply greater volatility which means greater profits if you know how to trade them correctly. The color has little importance on whether it is a bullish or bearish pattern, a green candle is somewhat more bullish than a doji and a red candle is somewhat more bearish than a doji.

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The doji and small body candle signals:

! That the trend could reverse or just pausing, neither bears or bulls are in control

! That the trend could reverse or just pausing, neither

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! Nothing specific since it is in range (see more in the

techniques chapter “Avoid Patterns Inside Trading Range”)

! Note: if formed at the high or low that have not been tested it can create a hammer and a strategy setup (learn more in the strategy chapter; “The Hammer Strategy” and “The Inverted Hammer Strategy”)

! Note: if several dojis or small body candles forming at

the high or low of the range were high or low already have been tested it could be charging for a breakout (learn more in the strategy chapter; “The Break of Three Strategy”)

Hammer and Inverted Hammer

A hammer is formed when the open and close are at the high of the candle yet during the session bears where in control and at one time this candle was a long body candle. This pattern signals that bulls have more control.

An inverted hammer is formed when the open and close are at the low of the candle yet during the session bulls where in control and at one time this candle was a long body candle.

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The hammer signals:

! Bears had control but bulls recovered during the end of the session and are now back in control (during the session this candle was a long body candle)

! Note: this can be an indication that bulls are losing strength

! Bulls surprised bears who thought they were in control

(during the session this candle was a long body candle), possible trend reversal (learn more in the strategy chapter; “The Hammer Strategy”)

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The inverted hammer signals:

! Bears surprised bulls who thought they were in control

(during the session this candle was a long body candle), possible trend reversal (learn more in the strategy chapter; “The Inverted Hammer Strategy”)

! Bulls had control but bears recovered during the end

of the session and are now back in control (during the session this candle was a long body candle)

! Note: this can be an indication that bears are losing

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Learning the Patterns

There is a big collection of patterns (doji, engulf, harami, etc.). It is not important to remember every candlestick pattern and, instead focus on learning these main patterns I have covered in this chapter. Learn to understand the sentiment reaction to the price action and what the possible outcome will be for the patterns. The motivation of making profits will be your best boost for the learning the patterns.

Upgrade on Trading Candlesticks Successfully

Here is a step-by-step process on how to trade the winning patterns in combination with your trading style successfully:

1. Study charts and evaluate patterns at levels you usually take entry at, you might for example be using:

a. Support and resistance b. Momentum indicators c. Fibonacci levels

d. Trend lines

e. Moving averages

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2. Formulate the conditions meet when the pattern occur and write them down (IF = THEN).

3. Take screenshots and copy into your trading plan. 4. Trade your trading plan with discipline.

5. Journal your trades and actions and write down your thoughts and feelings before and after the trade.

6. Analyze your trades and actions; use your strength and improve on your weaknesses and mistakes.

7. Make improvements to your trading plan adjusting it to your strengths.

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Winning Candlestick Techniques

Adopting to Volatility

You probably know that falling markets are more volatile than rising markets in most cases. Price often shows higher recognition at first test to resistance in rising markets than support at first test in falling markets. It is just like a car driving downhill, it will have a longer breaking distance than a car driving uphill. You can use this knowledge in trading by adopting your trading strategy to take advantage of this.

Avoid Patterns Inside Trading Range

One important technique and concept when trading candlestick reversal patterns is to pay more attention to them in situations

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where they occur at support and resistance levels and avoid patterns inside a trading range.

Doji and Small Body Candle Breakouts

You know that the doji and small body candles are candlesticks where neither the bulls nor bears control the session and the market may be at a transition point. The technique to trade these is to be patient and wait for confirmation of the direction. A confirmation of a bullish breakout would be a close above the doji or small body candle high.

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Long Body Candle Support and Resistance

A long body candle is a sign of strength and therefore these candles will have hidden support and resistance levels. The level you want to be trade is at the 50% level of the candle body.

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Develop an Understanding of The Psychology

Understanding the psychology behind candles is much more important than remembering the name since these patterns not always look exactly the same every time. Developing an understanding of the price moves and how candles is formed will give you information into what the market psychology is, and you will easily spot changes in the sentiment of the market. The technique below about determining strength is one way to understand the psychology.

A long body candle with no or short tail indicates strong buying or selling. The longer the body is, the more powerful the buying or selling activity. A small body candle with no or short tail implies very little buying or selling activity.

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A hammer and inverted hammer have tails. The hammer has a long lower tail and short or no upper tail; this means there has been a bulls rejection during the session. Bears forced price lower but bulls quickly came in and drove prices back up to end the session.

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The inverted hammer has a long upper tail and short lower tail; this means there is a bears rejection during the session. Bulls force price higher but bears quickly came in and drove prices down to end the session.

A doji and the small body candle also have tails. Comparing the small body candle and doji with the long body candle you can understand that the bulls and bears have much more strength in the long body candle.

The doji or small body candle has a long lower tail and long or upper tail; this means there has been a bulls and bears rejection during the session. Bears forced price lower but bulls quickly came in and drove prices up then bears came in again and drove prices down to the open price at the end the session.

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Or bulls forced price higher but bears quickly came in and drove prices down then bulls came in again and drove prices up to the open price at the end the session.

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The length of the candle bodies and the tails (price action that is outside the body of the candle) of the candles can give you a good indication of the health or strength of a trend. A bullish trend with good health is rising with long body candles and there is not any long tails above the candlestick bodies. A bearish trend with good health is falling with long body candles and there is not any long tails below the candlestick bodies.

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Candlestick Strategies

The Hammer Strategy

This is a strategy that can be trader both long and short. (See “The Inverted Hammer Strategy” for short setup. The logic behind the strategy is; it is a double bottom where a new low is formed but during the candle session but quickly recovers and price come back above the low closing the session forming a hammer (trapping breakout traders and stopped out those who placed stops below the first low). The color the candle closes is not important but it must close in the upper third of the candle range.

Setup

• In a downtrend (lower highs and lower lows) • A low has formed (first bottom)

• At least two candles are formed with lows above bottom • A candle break below the first bottom but quickly recovers

and closes as a hammer candlestick

Entry

• Buy limit order at the hammer close

Stop Loss

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Target

• 3x the stop loss distance (1:3 risk reward)

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The Inverted Hammer Strategy

The logic behind this strategy is the same as for “The Hammer Trade” except the trade is in the other direction.

Setup

• In an uptrend (higher highs and higher lows) • A high has formed (first high)

• At least two candles are formed with highs below the high • A candle break above the first high but quickly fails and

closes as an inverted hammer candlestick

Entry

• Sell limit order at the inverted hammer close

Stop Loss

• One tick above the hammer high

Target

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The 50% Support Strategy

Logic behind this strategy; the market direction is indicated by a long body candle and the strategy uses this by taking a trade at the 50% level of a long body candle (the median of bullish orders).

Setup

• A long body candle is formed with a range that is 2x the

average candle range and closes in its highest quarter

• There is no unfilled 50% Strategy setups in the opposite

direction looking back 50 candles

Entry

• Buy limit order at the 50% level of the long body candle

Stop Loss

• One tick below the candle low

• Trailing stop loss when a candle closes to new highs above

the high of the long body candle; move the stop loss to one tick below the breakout candle

Target

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The 50% Resistance Strategy

Logic behind this strategy; the market direction is indicated by a long body candle and the strategy uses this by taking a trade at the 50% level of a long body candle (the median of bearish orders).

Setup

• A long body candle is formed with a range that is 2x the

average candle range and closes in its lowest quarter

• There is no unfilled 50% Strategy setups in the opposite

direction looking back 50 candles

Entry

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Stop Loss

• One tick above the candle high

• Trailing stop loss when a candle closes to new lows below

the low of the long body candle; move the stop loss to one tick above break out

Target

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The Break of Three Strategy

The logic behind the break of three setup correlated with “The Hammer Trade” because it takes advantage of the strength of the reaction that is the result from a failed “Hammer Trade”. It is a breakout that occurs at the third test of a level that fails (as long as the conditions are intact the strategy is valid for a breakout on the fourth or fifth test of the level).

Setup

• In an uptrend (higher highs and higher lows) • A new high is formed

• A second high is formed close to the first high (the second

high is the breakout level)

• Higher lows

Entry

• Buy market order one tick above the breakout level

Stop Loss

• One tick below the lowest candle between the second high

and the breakout

Target

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The Break of Three Short Strategy

A breakout strategy that occurs at the third test of a level that fails (as long as the conditions are intact the strategy is valid for a breakout on the fourth or fifth test of the level).

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Setup

• In an downtrend (lower highs and lower lows) • A new low is formed

• A second low is formed close to the first low (the second

low is the breakout level)

• Lower highs

Entry

• Sell market order one tick below the breakout level

Stop Loss

• One tick above the highest candle before between the

second low and the breakout

Target

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Combining Candlestick Patterns

with Technical Analysis

In this chapter we will look at some of the most popular technical methods in combination with the candlestick patterns you just learned. You will get an understanding on how you can use the patterns with your current trading style. By combining candlestick patterns with your favorite technical analysis method, you will most likely improve your performance and profits.

Support and Resistance Levels

Horizontal support and resistance levels are the most powerful levels because everyone can see them, they are visual easy to spot. Local tops and bottoms in a trend can be viewed as support and resistance levels. Horizontal price levels that act as support or resistance does not lose its importance after broken. A support level often becomes resistance after broken and a resistance level often becomes support after broken.

The closer in time a support or resistance was created the more significant it will be. This is because traders and investors tend to remember recent price moves and have interest these levels because they are invested above or below them.

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Supply and Demand Zones

Trading supply and demand zones are zones price have made a strong advance or decline from. The logic behind supply and

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demand zones is that banks and hedge funds decide on specific zones (prices) where they want to get their orders filled. Their trading creates strong advance (from demand zone) or a strong decline (supply zone). Usually their orders are so large they are not able to get their orders filled so they leave pending orders in the zone to buy or sell expecting that this price will come back to this zone so their orders get filled.

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Fibonacci Levels

Fibonacci levels are based on the numbers identified by Leonardo Fibonacci, a mathematician in the thirteen-century. The Fibonacci levels are calculated by dividing the vertical distance between

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two points (a high and low) by the Fibonacci ratios. The ratios play an important part in nature and are proven to play an important part in trading too. Will look at the most important levels 61.8% and 50% in these examples.

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Trend Lines

Trend lines can be used to get a visual indication in what direction the trend is heading. The lines can be used to find support and resistance levels but they are not as powerful as horizontal lines since there is a million ways to draw a sloping trend line. A rising trend line is drawn from left to right connecting rising bottoms. You need at least two bottoms where the second is higher than the first to draw a rising trend line. A falling trend line is drawn from left to right connecting falling highs.

There are some generalities on trend lines. The longer the trend line is valid the more significant it become, trend lines drawn over several years is viewed to be more significant than a trend

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line drawn over a few days since the second have a higher probability of being broken.

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Indicators

Disclaimer: I do not recommend using indicators if you can read candlesticks (price) and levels. Indicators are calculated on price and therefore, indicators will not increase your edge or give you any more information what is already in the charts.

Trend Following Indicator

If you like trend following indicators, you can use them in combination with candlesticks. The charts below show how a moving average (50) can be traded with the candlestick patterns. Additional popular trend following indicators includes MACD, Channel indicators, ADX and more.

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Momentum Indicators

If you like momentum indicators, you can use them in combination with candlestick patterns. Momentum indicators intended use is to identify when a move from overbought to oversold areas or from oversold to overbought happens. The definition of overbought according to momentum indicators; when price rises above symmetry and becomes expensive relative to the prevailing trend. Momentum indicators can also be used to analyze the strength or speed of the trend.

RSI is probably the most well-known momentum indicator. It measures the relative strength of price and can assume values between 0 and 100. The value increases when price has

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70 is considered overbought when the trend is neutral, but if the trend is up, a RSI value above 70 can be a confirmation that the trend is still strong and that price will continue to higher prices. A RSI value below 30 is considered oversold, if in neutral trend, but if price is in a downtrend it can be considered to be a trend confirmation. In the chart you can see that RSI gives an overbought value when price is in the upper range of the neutral trend channel and an oversold value when price is in the lower range.

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Candlestick Profits

Candlestick Profits

Candlestick Profits

Simple Candlestick Techniques

Simple Candlestick Techniques

and Strategies for Trading

and Strategies for Trading

Forex, Stocks and Options

Forex, Stocks and Options

Profitably

Profitably

Candlestick Profits

Candlestick Profits

Simple Candlestick Techniques

Simple Candlestick Techniques

and Strategies for Trading

and Strategies for Trading

Forex, Stocks and Options

Forex, Stocks and Options

Profitably

Profitably

Introduction

Introduction

Contents

Contents

Candlestick Charting

The Power of Candlestick Charting

Candlestick History

How to Succeed with Candlestick Charting

Get An Advantage Over Other

Traders

Upgrade on Increase Your Edge

Candlestick Construction

The Advantage Over Bar Charts

Upgrade on Emotion Free Charting

Winning Patterns

Long Body Candle

Doji and Small Body Candle

Hammer and Inverted Hammer

Learning the Patterns

Upgrade on Trading Candlesticks Successfully

Winning Candlestick Techniques

Adopting to Volatility

Avoid Patterns Inside Trading Range

Doji and Small Body Candle Breakouts

Long Body Candle Support and Resistance

Develop an Understanding of The Psychology

Candlestick Strategies

The Hammer Strategy

The Inverted Hammer Strategy

The 50% Support Strategy

The 50% Resistance Strategy

The Break of Three Strategy

The Break of Three Short Strategy

Combining Candlestick Patterns

with Technical Analysis

Support and Resistance Levels

Supply and Demand Zones

Fibonacci Levels

Trend Lines

Indicators