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Written and copyright © 2008-2010 by Thomas N. Bulkowski. All rights reserved.
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.
The tweezers bottom candlestick pattern is a name that makes sense to me. On this candlestick, price trends downward leading to the start of the tweezers. There, two candles of any color
share the same low price, as if the low is where the tweezers join.
Unfortunately, as a tradeable candlestick, it is lousy. It is supposed to be a bullish reversal because price stops at the same low twice, signaling a support area, but testing reveals
that price just continues lower. The overall performance is about mid list, too, so the trend after the breakout is not exciting.
Important Results
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Theoretical performance: Bullish reversal
Tested performance: Bearish continuation 52% of the time
Frequency rank: 39
Overall performance rank: 44
Best percentage meeting price target: 71% (bull market, up breakout)
Best average move in 10 days: 4.95% (bear market, up breakout)
Best 10-day performance rank: 29 (bear market, up 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.
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 Tweezers Bottom
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Discussion
The tweezers bottom candle is supposed to act as a bullish reversal, but testing shows that it acts as a bearish continuation pattern 52% of the time. That is near random, so do not
depend on predicting the breakout direction.
The best average move 10 days after the breakout is a rise of 4.95% in a bear market. That ranks 29th, which is respectable. I consider moves of 6% or more as good, so this candle
pattern is more than a bit short.
Identification Guidelines
| Characteristic | Discussion |
| Number of candle lines | Two. |
| Price trend leading to the pattern | Downward. |
| Configuration | Look for two candles sharing the same low price. |
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.
- Tweezers bottom candles that appear within a third of the yearly low perform best -- page 832.
- Select tall candles for the best performance -- page 832.
- Tweezers bottoms within a third of the yearly high tend to act as reversals most often -- page 834.
Example
The tweezers bottom appears circled in red on the daily chart. This one shows after a strong downward price trend. A black and white candle
pair appears as the tweezers bottom, but they could be any color and any size just as long as they share the same low price.
Price breaks out upward from the tweezers bottom when price closes above the top of the candle pattern. That signals a reversal of the downward price trend. In this example, the
reversal sticks and price trends upward off the hard right edge of the chart.
-- Thomas Bulkowski
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