Candles tell location; they do not forgive poor size

Hammer at support can be useful. Hammer in the middle of a messy range after you have already taken two losses is theatre.

Our foundations morning on day one deliberately delays pattern catalogues. Students first answer: where are we in the day’s auction? Only then do we look at individual candle anatomy — wicks as rejection, closes as commitment, doji as indecision rather than mystique.

Risk sits beside every example. A textbook engulfing bar still fails when size assumes the market owes you a full R multiple into thin lunchtime liquidity. We would rather see a smaller order at a clear level than a large order justified by a pretty candle.

If you study at home this week, pick five historical winners and five losers from your journal. Cover the pattern name. Write only location and size. Patterns that survive that test deserve space in your plan; the rest can stay in the textbook.