Bar charts vs candlesticks

Posted by George Hunt

Here is a live example of why you should be able to use both. I bought gold Friday as the result of what I called a tea cup except as was pointed out to me the handle was on the wrong side. So I called it a left handed tea cup. Another called it a saucer and maybe that is a better discription of it, but in any event it looked like an accumlation pattern which is what both bar chart patterns are. It may turn into an inverted Head and Shoulders pattern before all is said an done. The point of all this is it took many bars to give me the buy signal and since gold went up the last three days, it was a pretty good buy signal. Early this morning before the grains opened I posted there was a gravestone in Dec wheat. This was one days trading represented in one candle and this candle indicated that Dec wheat should be sold. Dec wheat sold off today.

This post is not about being right. This post is about using the tools which are available to the trader and especially bar chart patterns and candlesticks. To be a very good trader it is worthwhile to become comfortable with both. To not use both is like fighting a boxing match with one hand tied behind you.