Been trading for a while but still feel inconsistent with candlestick patterns. Sometimes they work great, other times they just fake me out.
Curious what patterns you actually rely on and how you filter out the noise.
Hammer and engulfing patterns work for me. I pay attention to them at key support or resistance levels.
I stick with doji patterns and shooting stars. They’re solid for catching reversals, especially on 4H charts.
Biggest lesson? Volume confirms everything. No volume with a doji? It’s just noise. Shooting stars need that rejection volume or I skip them.
I don’t bother with patterns during big news events anymore. Price goes crazy and patterns mean nothing. Better to wait it out.
Last thing - I only trade patterns at previous highs/lows. Middle-of-trend patterns are usually garbage.
Bullish engulfing and morning stars work well for me. I always wait for the next candle to confirm before jumping in. Got burned too many times entering right when the pattern formed. For morning stars, I need that third candle closing above the middle candle’s high. With engulfing patterns, the follow-up candle has to stay above the engulfing candle’s close. Sure, my win rate drops a bit, but it saves me from those brutal reversals that hit right after entry.
I focus on pin bars and inside bars as they provide clear entry points.
Pin bars should show a tail pointing away from significant levels and have a small body. Inside bars work well for continuation trades after pullbacks.
Always be patient and look for these setups at important levels. Avoid trading every pattern you come across.
Abandoned baby patterns at major levels. Rare but deadly accurate.
Three white soldiers became my favorite after getting wrecked by smaller patterns for years. You need all three candles closing higher with solid body sizes - no tiny wicks.
I size positions bigger on these setups since they rarely fail after major selloffs. The reliability is just better.
Started pairing patterns with RSI too. Hammers at oversold RSI work way better than random hammers. Same with shooting stars when RSI’s overbought.
Most patterns suck during Asian hours. European and US sessions give cleaner signals. Took me two years to learn that timing matters.
I watch for dark cloud cover patterns. They work well when they appear after big upward moves.
