Lesson 7: Three-Candle Patterns

🕯️ Candlestick Patterns in 5 Minutes · Lesson 7 of 10

In lesson 6 the harami used two candles to whisper that a trend was tiring. Now we go to three candles that don't whisper at all, they march.

These are the cleanest momentum patterns on a chart. Three strong candles in a row, all pushing the same direction, with each one building on the last. When you see them at the right spot, they tell you control just changed hands.

Three White Soldiers

Three white soldiers is a bullish pattern that shows up after a downtrend or a long flat stretch. It's three green candles in a row, and they have to look a certain way.

Each candle should have a solid body, not a tiny one. Each should open inside or near the prior candle's body and then close higher than the candle before it, near its own high. So you get a steady staircase climbing up, with little wick on top. Buyers open the session, push all day, and close strong. Then they do it again. Three days of that says demand is back and serious.

The pattern is strongest right as a downtrend gives up. Three soldiers rising off a bottom carry far more weight than three green candles in the middle of a chart that was already grinding higher.

Three Black Crows

Three black crows is the bearish version, and it shows up after an uptrend. Three red candles in a row, each one opening inside the prior body and closing lower, near its own low.

The picture is a staircase heading down with little wick underneath. Sellers take over at the open, drive price down through the day, and close weak. Three sessions of that pattern after a strong run is a real warning that the buyers are spent and the trend is rolling over.

Reliable or Just Noise

Three candles the same color isn't automatically one of these patterns. The difference between a real signal and random noise comes down to a few things, and it's worth being picky.

Watch the wicks. Real soldiers have small upper wicks, meaning price closed near the high each day with no big rejection. Real crows have small lower wicks. If every candle has a long tail fighting the move, the pattern is weaker than it looks.

Watch the size. The candles should be reasonably full and similar in size. Three tiny candles drifting along, or a pattern where the third candle is suddenly half the size of the first, tells you the momentum is already fading right as the signal completes.

One more honest caveat. After three big candles in one direction, a lot of the move may already be done. By the time the third candle closes you might be chasing. Smart traders treat these as a momentum read and look for a small pullback or a clean level to act on, rather than buying or selling the instant the third candle prints.

Next up

You've now got a solid stack of patterns. The next question is where on a chart they actually count. In lesson 8 we'll cover why the same candle means everything at support and almost nothing in the middle of nowhere.