Educational and money-management tool · detected patterns are historical context, not predictions or advice
Principles first, patterns second. Every pattern card includes its caveat.
Money management
Risking a constant 0.5–1% of the account per trade means a losing streak scales down with you instead of compounding damage. Ten losses at 1% leaves ~90% of the account; ten at 5% leaves ~60%. Position size is the only variable you fully control before entry.
Money management
Choose the invalidation level from the chart first, then compute lots from risk ÷ (stop distance × value per point). Sizing first and then squeezing the stop to fit is the single most common account killer.
Money management
Expectancy = (win rate × average win) − (loss rate × average loss). A 40% win rate at 2.5R is far stronger than 70% at 0.5R. Journal R multiples, not pips, so this figure is computable.
Price action
A pattern is only as good as its location. Measure zones from clustered swing points, allow for an area rather than a single line, and treat wicks through a zone as normal behaviour rather than failure.
Price action
Read monthly and weekly levels before intraday shapes. Intraday patterns that fight the higher-timeframe location have the worst follow-through — this is why Pattrend scores context, not just candle shape.
Price action
Metals expand and contract far faster than FX majors. The same 30-pip stop that is generous on EUR/USD is noise on XAU/USD. Always size from current ATR rather than a fixed pip number.
Psychology
Decisions taken with an open position are made under pressure. Write your maximum trades per day, daily loss cap and news blackout while you have nothing at risk, then let the journal grade you.
Psychology
Two losses, then a size increase and a shorter hold time. Because Pattrend logs rule violations against each trade, that pattern becomes visible instead of forgettable.
Psychology
A 90% confluence score means most of your measurable checklist is satisfied — nothing more. Markets remain probabilistic; the checklist is there to keep you consistent, not to promise an outcome.
An up candle whose body completely covers the previous down candle's body. It says buyers took control of the whole prior session's range.
Caveat: Far less meaningful in the middle of a range or against a strong downtrend. On its own it is a single candle, not a trend change.
A down candle whose body completely covers the previous up candle's body — sellers erased the prior session.
Caveat: Often appears repeatedly inside choppy conditions. Without a level or structure behind it, expect noise.
A candle with a long lower wick and a small body near the top: price was pushed down and bought back before the close.
Caveat: The wick must be rejecting something (a level, a prior low). Hammers in mid-air fail frequently.
A long upper wick with the body near the low — buyers pushed up and got sold back into the close.
Caveat: During strong trends, upper wicks are common and do not reliably mark tops.
Long lower wick rejection candle. Same reading as a hammer, body colour aside.
Caveat: Quality depends on where it forms; measure the wick against average range, not by eye.
Long upper wick rejection candle showing supply above the market.
Caveat: One rejection does not equal a reversal — many pin bars only pause a trend.
Open and close nearly equal: indecision, often before an expansion in either direction.
Caveat: A doji has no direction. Treating it as a reversal signal is a common beginner error.
The full range sits inside the previous candle — volatility contraction, energy building.
Caveat: Breaks of inside bars fail often in low-liquidity sessions. Direction is unknown until it breaks.
Three candles: sell-off, pause, then a strong close back above the first candle's midpoint.
Caveat: Needs to form at a level that matters. Mid-range morning stars are weak.
Three candles: rally, pause, then a strong close back below the first candle's midpoint.
Caveat: Late in an extended down move it can be a trap rather than continuation.
Two highs at a similar price with a pullback between them, showing supply repeatedly defending one area.
Caveat: Only structurally complete once price closes below the neckline. 'Forming' means nothing has been confirmed.
Two lows at a similar price, indicating demand defending an area twice.
Caveat: Third and fourth touches break more often than they hold. Confirmation is the neckline close.
Price is sitting at a zone built from clustered previous swing lows.
Caveat: The more times a level is touched, the thinner the liquidity behind it becomes.
Price is sitting at a zone built from clustered previous swing highs.
Caveat: Levels are areas, not lines. Expect overshoot in both directions.
A close above the highest high of the recent 20-candle range.
Caveat: False breaks are common in the first hour of a session and around news. Retest behaviour matters more than the break.
A close below the lowest low of the recent 20-candle range.
Caveat: Stop-runs regularly look identical to breakouts until price closes back inside the range.
