Candlestick formation · Bullish
What is it, in one line
Three long green bodies, each closing above the last.
Bullish · 3 candles · verdict: rule and thresholds below
Three long green bodies, each closing above the last. 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
Three consecutive up candles, each opening within the previous candle’s real body and closing above the previous close, each with a short upper wick. The opening constraint matters: three rising candles that gap apart are a different formation, and dropping it turns this into any three up days.
The traditional claim
Traditionally read as a bullish reversal or continuation signal depending on where it appears, and treated as a sign of steady rather than erratic buying.
How this detection is wrong
Each open must sit inside the prior real body — three rising candles that gap apart are a different formation. maxOpenOutsideAtr is how far outside the prior body an open may sit, in ATR units; at its default of 0 the classical rule is reproduced exactly. maxUpperPct enforces the classical 'shaven head' requirement; without it the pattern degenerates into any three up days, which is how most published counts are produced.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| trendPeriod | bars of prior trend inspected | 5 |
| maxPriorSlope | prior slope must be below | -1 |
| minBodyAtr | body, at least, in ATR | 0.4 |
| maxUpperPct | upper wick, at most, as a share of the range | 0.25 |
| atrPeriod | bars of ATR used to size everything below | 14 |
| maxOpenOutsideAtr | how far the open may sit outside, in ATR | 0 |
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.
Three consecutive up candles, each opening within the previous candle’s real body and closing above the previous close, each with a short upper wick. The opening constraint matters: three rising candles that gap apart are a different formation, and dropping it turns this into any three up days. The detector also requires a prior downtrend, so the same shape in the wrong context is not counted.
It is read as bullish. Traditionally read as a bullish reversal or continuation signal depending on where it appears, and treated as a sign of steady rather than erratic buying.
Each open must sit inside the prior real body — three rising candles that gap apart are a different formation. maxOpenOutsideAtr is how far outside the prior body an open may sit, in ATR units; at its default of 0 the classical rule is reproduced exactly. maxUpperPct enforces the classical 'shaven head' requirement; without it the pattern degenerates into any three up days, which is how most published counts are produced.
As an executable rule over open, high, low and close, with 6 named parameters — including bars of prior trend inspected 5, prior slope must be below -1, body, at least, in ATR 0.4 — 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.
Same shape, opposite reading
The shapes are close, and the prior trend is what decides which one fired: this rule requires a preceding downtrend, its mirror a preceding uptrend.
Three Black Crows: Three down candles, each opening inside the previous body and closing lower, with short lower wicks.