seriously do candle patterns works...

discuss?

i find it hard to believe why a living market will / can be predicted by candle patterns... hammers double tops etc

In as much as they're used to determine market forces, supply and demand, resistance and support, sure. But it's all context really. A doji can mean a reversal or just a consolidation, or maybe nothing at all. It all depends on context.

it depends. i have seen a doji followed by a reversal, but also a doji following by a continuation of the trend...

Do a search on Thomas Bulkowski, he has done some excellent empirical testing in various markets and has published his results. Some formations are much more powerful than others. In my experience, yes, they can be revealing but using them alone is a weak strategy, like Rabid said, you must have some context. That is, identify where the support and resistance could be, use price action to 'confirm'.

See the "Chart Patterns" section of this post. There's a link there to something like "thepatternsite.com" which is Mr Bulkowski's web page. It's an amazing resource. Also plenty of other links to Chart and Candle patterns info.

David

Candlestick patterns are like any other technical support. It can be useful in many ways but you cannot rely you decision on just that indicator. You can use MACD or RSI and look at the candles. If that tells you to buy, well just do it.

I have tried a lot of things out there. But to be honest, support and resistance WITH these formations seem to be the one thing I have found to work consistently. I wouldn't say nothing else works, just that these in fact DO. (When used together.)

Clockwork

And that, ladies and gents, is the bare-nekkid truth.