As of 12/20/2024   Indus: 42,840 +498.02 +1.2%     Trans: 15,892 +32.54 +0.2%     Utils: 986 +14.76 +1.5%     Nasdaq: 19,573 +199.83 +1.0%     S&P 500: 5,931 +63.77 +1.1%	YTD  +13.7%   0.0%    +11.9%    +30.4%    +24.3%	Targets    Overview: 12/12/2024     44,200 or 41,750 by 01/01/2025   16,100 or 17,700 by 01/01/2025   1,050 or 975 by 01/01/2025   20,500 or 19,300 by 01/01/2025   6,100 or 5,775 by 01/01/2025
Chart Pattern Indicator: on 12/5/24

As of 12/20/2024   Indus: 42,840 +498.02 +1.2%     Trans: 15,892 +32.54 +0.2%     Utils: 986 +14.76 +1.5%     Nasdaq: 19,573 +199.83 +1.0%     S&P 500: 5,931 +63.77 +1.1%	YTD  +13.7%   0.0%    +11.9%    +30.4%    +24.3%
Targets    Overview: 12/12/2024     44,200 or 41,750 by 01/01/2025   16,100 or 17,700 by 01/01/2025   1,050 or 975 by 01/01/2025   20,500 or 19,300 by 01/01/2025   6,100 or 5,775 by 01/01/2025
Chart Pattern Indicator: on 12/5/24

Bulkowski on the Advance Block Candlestick

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Advance Block: Overview

The advance block candle is one that I like, but I am not sure why. It is supposed to act as a bearish reversal, but testing shows it is really a bullish continuation pattern. The reversal is just above the "near random" range of 51% to 59%, where so many candle patterns reside. With a frequency rank of 65 out of 103 candles, it is not a popular rock star, either. The post breakout trend is also mid list. I am losing my enthusiasm for this candle pattern...

Advance Block: Important Results

Theoretical performance: Bearish reversal Tested performance: Bullish continuation 64% of the time Frequency rank: 65 Overall performance rank: 54 Best percentage meeting price target: 53% (bull market, up breakout) Best average move in 10 days: -4.76% (bear market, down breakout) Best 10-day performance rank: 32 (bull market, down breakout) All ranks are out of 103 candlestick patterns with the top performer ranking 1. "Best" means the highest rated of the four combinations of bull/bear market, up/down breakouts. The above numbers are based on hundreds of perfect trades. See the glossary for definitions.

Advance Block

Advance Block: Discussion

As I mentioned in the introduction, the advance block is supposed to act as a bearish reversal, but doesn't. In fact, it acts as a bullish continuation pattern 64% of the time. The overall performance rank is 54, which is mid list out of 103 candles.

The best move 10 days after the breakout is an average drop of 4.76% in a bear market. I consider moves of 6% or higher to be good, so this one falls well short of that. However, the best performance rank is 32, which is respectable. You will find that the best performance comes from advance block candles with downward breakouts.

Advance Block: Identification Guidelines

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Advance Block: Three Trading Tidbits

If you want a few bones from my Encyclopedia of candlestick charts book, here are three to chew on. The pages refer to the book where the tips appear.

1. For advance blocks that signal a reversal, look for them in an upward retracement of a downward price trend -- page 103.
2. Select tall candles for the best performance -- page 101.
3. The advance block breaks out upward most often -- page 105.

Advance Block: Example

I consider this chart a wimpy example of an advance block candlestick pattern. In an upward price trend, price forms a tall white candle followed by two smaller bodied white candles (the tall candle is not a requirement, but an observation in this example). Each of the last two candles has taller upper shadows when compared to their body height.

The candle pattern shows the progression from bullish enthusiasm to bearish warning. On the last two candle lines, bulls push price higher only to be beaten back down by the bears. But that does not stop the bulls because a few days later, price stages an upward breakout by closing above the top of the pattern.

Since price trends upward leading to the advance block and breaks out upward, this is an example of a continuation pattern. That is not how theory says the candle works, but you will find it behaving as a continuation almost two-thirds of the time.

-- Thomas Bulkowski

See Also

• The deliberation candlestick is similar to the advance block. Have you found the right one?
• Have you confused the price trend leading to the advance block? See the three white soldiers candlestick.
• Price might form a bullish three-line strike candle pattern tomorrow.
• If you prefer candlesticks, then visit over 100 of them in the alphabetical index.
• Click to view the visual candlestick index to make identification easier.

A conclusion is simply the place where you got tired of thinking.