Some Candlestick Chart Patterns Have Quirky Names, But Don't Let That Fool You

The Hammer, the Doji, the Shooting Star, the Harami,Stop" sign at a four-way intersection. It's a break in
the Dark Cloud Cover: all real Candlestick chartthe action.
patterns, and each has a personality all its own. EachThe Hammer emerges only at the end of a long
one of them warns of the possibility of a trenddowntrend. Oftentimes it stands there as a lone price
reversal; and that's what makes Candlestick analysisbar, below price action of previous days. It will have
and trading so exciting. We live for reversals.a small "real body" (price range between opening and
In the Doji, the opening price and the closing priceclosing prices) at or near the top of the bar. It will
are the same, or nearly so. If it appears at the tophave a long tail below, showing that the bears tried
of a long uptrend or at the bottom of a longto drive prices lower, but in the end they failed. The
downtrend it is a warning of a possible reversal. It isHammer is a bullish pattern which needs no
as if the horse's rider had reined him short after aconfirmation. Many traders will enter Long positions at
hard run, to give the horse a chance to catch itsthe end of a trading day if it appears that a Hammer
breath and also to take a look around at thewill be the ending formation of the day.
surroundings. Or you might consider it to be a "Full