How Do They Produce Profits With Candlesticks?
Gaps (Ku) are called windows (Mado) in Japanese Candlestick analysis. A gap or window is one of the most misunderstood technical messages. Most investment experts advise not to buy after a gap. This is true only about ten percent of the time. The other 90% of the time, the gaps will reveal powerful high profit trades. Candlestick signals, correlated with the appearance of gaps, provide valuable profit-making set-ups. What is the best investment you can make? Simple! Learning investment techniques that make you independent of having to rely on any other investment consultation. You can easily learn and quickly master common sense analysis that will dramatically improve your returns for the rest of your life. You will feel confident in every trade you put on. No more “hoping” that a trade will move in your direction. The unique built-in forces encompassed in the candlestick signals and the strength of a move revealed by the existence of a gap produce powerful trade factors. You can rest easy! Obtaining the knowledge that this combination of signals reveals will produce consistent and strong profits.
These are not “hidden” secret signals or newly discovered formulas that are just now being exposed to the investment world. These are a combination of widely known but little used investment techniques. Candlestick signals obviously have a statistical basis to them or they would not still be in existence after all these centuries. Gaps have very powerful implications. Combining the information of the two produces investment returns that very few investors take the time to exploit.
Dissecting the implications of a gap/window makes its appearance easy to understand. Once you understand why a gap occurs at different points in a trend, taking advantage of what the gaps reveal becomes highly profitable. Where a gap occurs is important. The ramification of a gap in a chart pattern is an important aspect to Japanese Candlestick analysis. Some traders make a living trading strictly off of gaps.
Consider what a window or gap represents. In a rising market, it illustrates a price opening higher than any of the previous day’s trading range. (For illustration in this book, the “day” will be the representative time frame.) What does this mean in reality? During the non-market hours, something made owning this stock tremendously desirable. So desirable that the order imbalance opens the price well above the prior day’s body as well
as the high of the previous day’s trading range. As seen in Figure 1, note the space between the high of the previous day and the low of the following day.
Figure 1 – Illustration of a gap.
Witnessing a gap or window at the beginning of a new trend produces profitable opportunities. Seeing the gap formed at the beginning of the trend reveals that upon a reversal of direction, the buyers have stepped in with a great amount of zeal. A common scenario is witnessing a prolonged downtrend. A Candlestick signal appears, a Doji or Harami, Hammer, or any other signal that would indicate that the selling has stopped. What is required to verify that the downtrend has stopped is more buying the next day. This can be more solidly verified if the next day has a gap up move.
Many investors are apprehensive about buying a stock that has popped up from the previous days close. A risky situation! Yet a Candlestick investor has been forewarned that the trend is going to change, using a signal as that alert. A gap up illustrates that the force of buying in the new upward trend is going to be strong. The enthusiasm shown by the buyers trying to get into the stock demonstrates that the new trend should have a strong move to it. Use that gap as a strength indicator.
Gaps occur in many different places and forms. Some are easy to see, some are harder to recognize. This book will take you through the different situations where a gap has appeared. Each situation will be explained in detail, (1) to give you a full understanding of what is occurring during the move and (2) to provide a visual illustration to become familiar with the formation, making it easy to recognize. This allows the Candlestick investor to spot an investment situation as it is developing.