This book was made possible through the influences and inspiration of many people. It is hard to decide who to mention first due to the integral input of all during the process of writing this book. My first and foremost thanks goes to my mother June Bigalow who has always been there to support my endeavors. I am also blessed with a great and supportive brother and sister, along with their families. Their support through this effort has been greatly appreciated. I am forever grateful for the encouragement from friends and business acquaintances, who have since become good friends, for their parts in advancing the progress of this book. Drew and Dee Dee Vickers, Dan Dubose, Daryl and Barbara Thompson have been great inspirers. Wally and Rose Ann
Peckham provided great coaching as well as a refuge to clear the mind for the next go-round of typing.

Mark Storey has been a constant source of innovative ideas and procedures through the years for the development of investment programs. Ken Melber has patiently gone through the experience of actual trading programs, sorting out the good and bad, and finally benefiting from the establishment of trading rules. Dave Goddard lent his genius in statistical analysis whenever was requested.

Professor Abbie Smith, of Chicago University, receives my thanks for being the initial inspiration for writing this book. Mike Harper, President of the Houston chapter of the Market Technicians Association, has been a great help with his extensive background in Elliot Wave analysis. Many thanks go to my friends and associates at Enron Corporation in Houston, Texas. Mike Roberts has my heartfelt thanks for the work he did way above the call of duty. His many hours of editing and format suggestions will never be forgotten. I don’t know what I would have done without his gracious assistance. Vince Kaminski and Gary Hickerson contributed invaluable access to functional trading concepts and research integration along with intellectual encouragement. Consulting with the experts at Enron Corporation, a high-class, well-run operation, was a fantastic experience while writing the book. And it produced a great number of strong friendships.

Many thanks go to my Cornell University, DU fraternity buddies for their encouragement and insights. Their inspiration to put my best foot forward acted as a goal for me throughout my many hours of hunt-and-peck typing. Thanks to the CQG Company for providing clear and easy to work with charts. Also thanks to TC2000 for providing an efficient search software program. A special thanks goes out to my agent, Robert Deforio, for his guidance in working with publishers. And I feel fortunate to have worked with Claudio Campuzano at John Wiley & Sons, Inc. His counseling and guidance has made the experience of publishing this book a pleasant one. Marie Garcarz is greatly appreciated for her valued advice and direction.

To keep from possibly blemishing any reputations associated with those
acknowledged as providing something toward the completion of this book,
it should be noted that any factual errors or omissions found within this book
are solely my responsibility. Japanese Candlestick charting and analysis is one of the most effective technical methodologies in the universe of technical analysis. This bold statement is consistent with the same statements that were made one to two decades ago in books written about Candlesticks when they were first introduced into the United States. The exact same problems that appeared to keep the Candlestick method out of the limelight back then have persisted to make Candlesticks still a fairly underused method today. Through the years, the number of people who have become proficient users of Candlestick analysis has been minimal.

Nearly two decades of using the signals have produced two basic revelations: the signals are extremely accurate, and it is unusual that more people have not become advocates of the technique. One of the most powerful investment techniques has been sitting in front of the U.S. investment community, yet it has not exploded in popularity as one would expect. Years of informal surveys have reached this conclusion. There is a definite perception about Candlestick trading. It is seen as requiring a long time to learn and become proficient at it. That is the major reason the majority of investors have stayed away from Candlesticks. That misconception is what spurred the writing of this book. Other books on the topic were written nearly a decade ago.

Those books were informational and well written, however, they were published in somewhat of a vacuum. Once the books were read, each investor was out there on his or her own. The number of people to confer with after first becoming exposed to the Candlestick method was minimal. The ideas were new in the United States and there were few places to turn to for guidance.
For the past two decades, most investors have been aware of Candlesticks.
The most common statement is, “They know about Candlesticks; they just
don’t know how they work.” An extremely high percentage of chart followers
have the Candlestick formations on their charts versus the standard bar
charts. This is due to the favorable visual impact. The illustrative properties
of the Candlestick chart make viewing much easier.

Four hundred years of research by profitable Japanese rice traders was the
inception of statistical analysis. What may take computers one afternoon to
perform, the Japanese rice traders assembled over centuries of time. However,
there is a definite benefit involved with human interpretation of these signals.
The Japanese traders were able to describe the investor sentiment
behind the formation of the signals. This becomes an extremely powerful
asset for exploiting profits from markets that involve human emotions.
Being thoroughly convinced that Candlestick analysis surpasses all other
technical analysis induced me to eliminate the misperceptions. Japanese
Candlesticks is definitely not a passing fad. It is here stay and effectively
extract profits from the trading markets—profits for those who take the little
time required to become acquainted with the Candlestick thinking
process.

Not only does the knowledge of what a signal looks like benefit the candlestick
educated investor, but learning the common-sense psychology that
formed the signal provides the investor with a whole new perspective into
successful investing. Somebody is making huge profits in the markets. It is
not the conventional wisdom advocates, buy and hold. The big winners are
those who have developed successful methods for interpreting when to buy
and sell. Candlestick analysis is that method. Read this book and your investment abilities will be forever improved, improved to the point of not just constantly exceeding market averages, but being able to exploit the indications
of the signals to amass extraordinary profits.

Once you learn the Japanese Candlestick technique, your understanding
of how investment markets work will dramatically alter your investment
psychology. The probabilities of producing magnificent profits will always
be in your favor. Learn Candlesticks and reap the knowledge that has led to
centuries of successful trading.