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 Mat Hold Candle Pattern

In my book, Encyclopedia of Candlestick Charts, pictured on the right, I explore the entire range of candlestick patterns from abandoned babies to windows (not exactly A to Z, but you get the idea), in both bull and bear markets, using almost 5 million candle lines in the tests.

The book takes an in-depth look at 103 candlestick patterns and reports on behavior and rank (3 types: reversal rate, frequency, and overall performance), identification guidelines, performance statistics (tables of general statistics, height, and volume), trading tactics (tables of statistics on reversal rates and performance indicators), and wraps each chapter with a sample trade. I share a sliver of that information below. If you like what you read here, then you will love the book. Help support this website and buy a copy by clicking on the above link.

I had to use the List feature of Patternz to find this rare candlestick in the many years of data held in my database. During writing of the book, I uncovered just 52 mat hold patterns out of 4.7 million candle lines. Wow. Thus the performance numbers I discuss here will likely be wrong or at least subject to large change as additional samples become available.

Mat Hold Candlestick: Important Results

Theoretical performance: Bullish continuation Tested performance: Bullish continuation 78% of the time Frequency rank: 93 Overall performance rank: 86 Best percentage meeting price target: 67% (bull market, down breakout) Best average move in 10 days: -7.21% (bull market, down breakout) Best 10-day performance rank: 2 (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.

Mat Hold

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Mat Hold Candlestick: Discussion

The mat hold candle, as I mentioned, is rare (ranks 93 out of 103 where 1 is most plentiful), so the numbers are likely to change. It acts as a bullish continuation candlestick in both theory and reality with price continuing the trend 78% of the time. Unfortunately, the performance rank is low, at 86, meaning that the average move over the coming 10 days is small. There are exceptions to this with the 7.21% drop after a downward breakout in a bull market. That decline ranks 2 out of 103 candle types where 1 is best. My guess is that with more samples, the mat hold pattern would not perform nearly as well.

Mat Hold Candlestick: Identification Guidelines

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Mat Hold Candlestick: 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. After the mat hold completes, expect a price reversal -- page 554 and 558.
2. Mat hold candles taller than the median show price that moves farther that do those shorter than the median -- page 556.
3. Expect an upward breakout -- page 558.

Mat Hold Candlestick: Example

The chart shows an almost perfect example of a mat hold candlestick pattern beginning with the upward price trend leading to the start of the pattern. The first candle is a tall white one followed by three small black candles, of which all trend lower, and another tall white candle completes the pattern.

One flaw, if you can call it that, is the downward breakout. That occurs when price closes below the low of the candle pattern, and I show the breakout price as a greenline. Price closes below the line for a day before making a straight-line run upward.

As I mentioned in the Three Trading Tidbits (above), expect a price reversal after the mat hold completes. We see that behavior here. Price trends upward leading to the mat hold and when the candle completes, price falls -- not much, but it is enough to cause a downward breakout.

-- Thomas Bulkowski

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See Also

• The rising three methods candle looks similar.
• Tall candles show support and resistance.
• Two candlestick tips could improve profitability.
• Candles near the yearly low perform best.
• Chart pattern breakouts: Which candlesticks appear most often the day before breakouts?
• Shadows. Do tall candle shadows predict price turns? Yes and no.
• Tall candles at peaks and valleys. Tall candles appear at turning points.

The meek shall inherit the earth, after we're done with it.