Three strong candles marching the same direction. One of the more convincing momentum signals — precisely because it takes real, sustained force to form.
Three white soldiers is three consecutive strong up-candles, each closing near its high and opening within the prior body — sustained buying. Three black crows is the bearish mirror: three strong down-candles in a row. Both signal that one side has taken decisive, ongoing control.
Why they're convincing
Unlike a single reversal candle, these patterns require sustained force — three sessions of one-sided conviction, not a one-bar spike. That persistence is harder to fake than a single candle, which is why they're treated as strong momentum or reversal signals, especially when they appear after a consolidation or at the end of an opposing move.
The exhaustion caveat
The same strength that makes them convincing can also mark exhaustion. Three big candles in a row after an already-extended run can be the final push — the climax before a pullback — rather than the start of a new leg. Long upper wicks on the soldiers (or lower wicks on the crows) hint the move is meeting resistance and tiring.
Three strong candles show conviction. After a long run, that conviction can be the last gasp, not the first step.
Reading them in context
These patterns are strongest emerging from a base or breaking a level on rising volume — a genuine shift of control. Late in an extended trend, treat them with suspicion. As always, the pattern is a hypothesis about momentum; the regime and structure decide whether it continues or reverses.
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