Candlestick formation · Neutral
What is it, in one line
A bar whose entire range sits inside the previous range.
Neutral · 2 candles · verdict: rule and thresholds below
A bar whose entire range sits inside the previous range. The engine checks the formation as an executable condition over open, high, low and close, with a trend filter applied before the count is kept.
Method
A candle whose entire high-to-low range falls within the previous candle’s. This is a price-action construct rather than a Japanese candlestick formation, and it is not the same thing as a harami: a harami constrains the bodies, an inside bar constrains the ranges. Neither implies the other.
The traditional claim
Traditionally read as consolidation — a pause in which neither side extended the previous session’s range.
How this detection is wrong
Not a Japanese candlestick formation — it is a price-action construct, and it is included because it is the range-based sibling of harami and the comparison settles a confusion the literature never addresses. An inside bar constrains high and low; a harami constrains only the bodies. Neither implies the other.
Published so the count can be reproduced. Every figure below is a parameter of the rule, not a preference: change one and the occurrence count changes with it.
| Parameter | Meaning | Default |
|---|---|---|
| minPriorRangeAtr | the preceding range, at least, in ATR | 0.5 |
| atrPeriod | bars of ATR used to size everything below | 14 |
These share enough geometry that a detector can return more than one of them on the same bar. The engine reports every match rather than picking a winner.
Every pair on the site that can be mistaken for another, and what separates each: the look-alikes index.
A candle whose entire high-to-low range falls within the previous candle’s. This is a price-action construct rather than a Japanese candlestick formation, and it is not the same thing as a harami: a harami constrains the bodies, an inside bar constrains the ranges. Neither implies the other.
It is read as neutral. Traditionally read as consolidation — a pause in which neither side extended the previous session’s range.
Not a Japanese candlestick formation — it is a price-action construct, and it is included because it is the range-based sibling of harami and the comparison settles a confusion the literature never addresses. An inside bar constrains high and low; a harami constrains only the bodies. Neither implies the other.
As an executable rule over open, high, low and close, with 2 named parameters — including the preceding range, at least, in ATR 0.5, bars of ATR used to size everything below 14 — all published on this page so the count can be reproduced. Strict and loose variants are defined as well, so the sensitivity of the count to those thresholds is visible rather than assumed.
Measurement pending re-run
No hit rate is published here yet. The run that would supply one was computed on engine ca6d9e36c81c; the engine is now cfb08765de7c. Its candlestick rows included the still-forming bar, and it predates the chart formations entirely, so those figures have been withdrawn rather than published with a caveat. The definition above is unaffected: it is what the detector tests, and no re-run changes it.