Technical analysis cheat sheet — structure, patterns and indicators

Toolkit O · Version 1.2 · Updated 11 September 2026

Eight sections and ten tables to keep beside your monitor: what each concept means, when it actually qualifies, what confirms it, what invalidates it and the most common mistake. This is the operational summary of section 5 — technical analysis: the chapters explain mechanisms, numerical examples and research; this sheet sets out the recognition rules under the conventions used in the course. It does not tell you whether to enter a trade. It tells you whether the chart meets the definition you chose.

Conventions — the essential context for the tables

Technical analysis uses at least four breakout conventions, several swing definitions and platform-dependent indicator thresholds. This sheet adopts one set: the conventions developed in section 5, including the boundary clarifications in the Polish source v1.2. If your plan uses a different convention, record it alongside these rules. Consistency and choosing the rule before entry matter more than using this particular version.

• Swings: the 2+2 rule. A high qualifies as a swing high when it is higher than the highs of the two candles to its left and no lower than the highs of the two to its right. This asymmetry gives an earlier candle priority in a tie; reverse the comparisons for a swing low. Recognition is delayed: the extreme forms in candle T, but becomes a confirmed swing only after T+2 closes. Any live trend classification therefore uses structure with at least that much confirmation delay (5.3).
• Trend. An uptrend is a sequence of higher highs and higher lows (HH/HL) on confirmed swings; a downtrend has lower highs and lower lows (LH/LL). No such sequence between horizontal support and resistance means consolidation. This is an operational definition, not the only possible one. It requires an explicit swing-selection rule, but no indicator.
• Wick breach, breakout, false breakout and retest. A breach is a move beyond a zone boundary, even by a wick, without a close beyond it. A breakout is a candle close outside the zone on the timeframe being analysed; it cannot be known before that candle closes. A false breakout occurs when any of the next three candles closes back inside the zone or beyond its opposite side. A retest is a return to the zone after a breakout, followed by a close back on the breakout side, within twenty candles of the same timeframe; a later return is a separate approach to the zone. False breakout takes priority in classification. A retest observed at T+1 or T+2 remains provisional until T+3 closes: a subsequent close back in the zone within that window changes its classification. Keep both the original recognition time and the later change in your journal, without inserting knowledge from the future. The numbers 3 and 20 are the convention in 5.3, not measured optimal values.
• Chart patterns. The shape is a label; confirmation requires a candle close beyond the confirmation line — neckline, trough between peaks or triangle boundary. A close back on the original side invalidates the scenario. A measured move is a planning reference, not a promise (5.4).
• Candlestick patterns: three states. While the candle is forming, its shape is a hypothesis. Once it closes, the shape is established but there is still no signal. The immediately following candle close beyond the pattern's extreme activates the directional hypothesis. This is the conservative course convention (5.5); long wicks make confirmation rare, which is its trade-off rather than a defect. Three-candle patterns include confirmation: the third candle for stars and three inside, the whole pattern for soldiers/crows. The exception to “close, not wick” is invalidation of an Elliott-wave count in 5.10, explicitly marked in table 7.
• Closed candles only — indicators too. RSI(14) calculated on D1 and displayed on H4 keeps changing throughout the day until the D1 candle closes. The broker's server determines the cut-off. A New York-close server (commonly GMT+2/+3, aligned to 17:00 America/New_York) closes at roughly 23:00 Europe/Warsaw, or 22:00 during the US/CET-CEST changeover mismatch. GMT+0 closes at 00:00 UTC, corresponding to 01:00 Warsaw in winter and 02:00 in summer, usually with an extra short Sunday candle. These Warsaw conversions retain the source's worked example; use the appropriate conversion for your own time zone. The same day can be a hammer on one feed and a spinning top on another (5.5, 5.11).
• Volume on spot FX is the broker's tick volume, not centralised market turnover. Volume confirmation is consequently less direct than on equities: use it as context rather than as a required confirmation criterion (5.4, 5.10).
• Numbers in the tables — prices, pips and ratios — are illustrative or practitioner conventions. Pattern statistics discussed in section 5 mostly concern US equities (Bulkowski, Marshall and others), with recognition on historical data rather than live charts. The FX research cited in 5.4 and 5.8 concerns support/resistance levels and indicator rules, not individual patterns. This sheet therefore does not relabel those results as pattern “accuracy”.
• Boundaries and precision. The zone [L, H] includes both edges. An upward breakout requires C > H; a downward breakout requires C < L. A close exactly on an edge remains inside the zone. “Beyond an extreme” means a strict inequality; “at least” allows equality. Compare prices at the feed's tick precision, not after rounding chart labels. Never replace a missing candle with zero or a copy of its predecessor.
• Windows start from the breakout. T is the breakout candle, T+1 the first candle afterwards. A close inside the zone at T+3 still qualifies as a false breakout; the same event at T+4 no longer has that label. After the false-breakout window ends, a retest is allowed up to and including T+20; T+21 is a separate approach. A close back inside the zone ends the existing retest scenario; a fresh scenario requires a fresh breakout. If required data are missing within these windows, suspend classification until the gaps are resolved.
• Ties and swing order. For highs of 9, 10, 12, 12, 11, the first 12 is a confirmed swing high once the last candle closes; the second 12 loses the tie. A wide-range candle can satisfy both swing-high and swing-low conditions. OHLC alone does not reveal which extreme came first: do not turn it into two consecutive turning points without lower-timeframe data and a recorded rule. A trend requires comparison of at least two highs and two lows, not HH/HL labels without reference points.

Table 1: market structure — trends, zones and breakouts

The foundation that gives the other tables context: a hammer without a zone is a shape; a pattern without a trend is a label. Definitions from 5.3 and 5.6.

On a small screen, scroll tables and diagrams horizontally. With a keyboard, use Tab to focus the scrollable area, then use the arrow keys.

Breakout conventions (5.3): (1) a wick breach; (2) a close outside the zone — used in this sheet; (3) a close beyond the zone plus a buffer; (4) staying outside for N candles. Rollover at 17:00 America/New_York — normally 23:00 Europe/Warsaw, or 22:00 during DST mismatch weeks — widens spreads and can appear to “break” levels without corresponding selling pressure. A buffer should be compared with the broker's typical spread expansion in historical quotes, rather than chosen by appearance.

Table 2: chart patterns

The overview from 5.4, with mirror-image variants. The measured-target column uses the classical full-height rule (Edwards & Magee): project a distance from the breakout point. This is a planning reference, not a forecast. A neckline drawn through closes and one drawn through wicks give different levels; choose the convention before the breakout.

Measured-move calculation (illustrative example from 5.4; EUR/USD, 1 pip = 0.0001): head 1.1080, neckline 1.0920 → H = 160 pips → target = 1.0920 − 0.0160 = 1.0760. Drawing that neckline through wicks might place it at 1.0905, producing a different target. Recognition-quality filter: four questions from 5.4. Time of day: did the break occur during thin liquidity or a widened spread, such as rollover or early Asia? Macro calendar: is confirmation just before or after a top-tier release? Room to target: is a strong D1/W1 zone between the breakout and measured target? Breakout quality: does the candle close clearly beyond the line, rather than only wicking through it? Tick volume is at most supporting evidence. Classical volume confirmation is less direct on spot FX because the available measure is tick volume.

Table 3: candlestick patterns

Shape definitions and the confirmation convention come from 5.5. The final column explains the limits of pattern assessment. The literature discussed there (Bulkowski, Morris, Marshall et al.) combines shape descriptions with different tests on US equities: direction frequency, move size and rule profitability are not the same measure. They cannot be combined into one ranking or a hit rate to transfer to Forex. Context matters: a hammer at D1 support and a hammer in the middle of a range convey different information.

Reading the research: Section 7 of chapter 5.5 distinguishes Bulkowski’s frequency of a subsequent direction and rankings of move size from Marshall et al.’s (2006) tests of strategy profitability. A meaningful comparison needs the same pattern and trend definitions, sample, entry, exit, horizon and costs. A ranking without its metric is insufficient; it is not an FX accuracy ranking.
Confirmation: “the next candle” means the immediately following completed candle, not any later candle that eventually meets the condition. If the immediately following candle fails the test, this pattern has not produced a signal under this convention. Candle colour is not its closing price relative to the pattern. A star’s third candle may close exactly at the midpoint of body 1; three inside requires a close beyond the relevant extreme.
Boundary examples: if H = 1.1050, C = 1.1050 does not confirm a break above it; C = 1.1051 does. For a bullish engulfing body from 1.1000 to 1.1040, closes at 1.1040, 1.1020 and 1.0990 all invalidate the bullish condition: a larger adverse move does not restore it. These are rules for evaluating the pattern, not instructions for order execution.
Pin bar ≠ hammer: the names belong to different conventions; wick/body ratios and body position must be checked rather than treated as interchangeable.
A candle does not measure the available move, its duration or trading costs. Those belong in the plan.

Table 4: price action setups

From 5.6. Context means an HTF zone with a documented reaction, a completed trigger inside that zone and the D1/W1 direction. Recognising the shape is only one part of the decision. A trigger without a zone is just a shape.

Context and execution: identify the HTF zone, a completed trigger and the higher-timeframe direction. Recognition is not confirmation: use table 3 for engulfing; document the confirmation rule for other setups in your plan. A good zone is marked in advance, has a documented reaction history and a clean trigger completed in the zone, and agrees with the trend; a countertrend setup needs an explicitly tested edge. Execution should take place in an active session, outside the event and rollover windows, with a normal spread and costs small relative to the distance to the first realistic reference point. Invalidation follows structure.
Round-trip costs relative to mid: ½ the entry spread + ½ the exit spread + commissions on both executions + slippage on both executions. With an unchanged spread, that is one full spread, not two. Add swap if the position crosses the relevant financing boundary.
A stop order and a close-based assessment are separate: waiting for the candle close can allow a larger loss than an intrabar stop. Specify the response in advance and account for bid/ask execution and the available fill price.

Table 5: trend indicators

From 5.7. A trend indicator describes direction or strength already present in the data; its calculation window creates lag. Read the swing structure first. The indicator summarises swings; it does not replace the structure assessment in table 1.

Reading sequence (5.7, section 11): D1 — price relative to EMA(200) and EMA(21) → D1 — ADX → H4 — reaction at a zone → invalidation boundary. Read the swing structure in table 1 first (5.3, 5.6). A minimal set uses one average as a direction filter and one strength measure. A chart displaying MA(20/50/100/200), MACD, ADX, Ichimoku and Bollinger Bands together obscures price.

Table 6: oscillators and volatility

From 5.8. An oscillator describes the rate or relationship of past price changes, not the future. RSI above 70 reflects a large ratio of Wilder-smoothed gains to losses with parameter 14; the smoothing retains earlier history. Divergence is a warning, not an entry signal.

When an oscillator stops helping (5.8): in a strong trend (“overbought” can last for weeks), on an unfinished candle (the value changes until the close), when comparing pairs and platforms (different implementations), and just before a tier 1 release. Oscillators and trend indicators answer different questions. “Confirming” RSI with stochastic means two momentum readings from the same candles, not two independent pieces of evidence.

Table 7: Fibonacci and Elliott waves

From 5.9 and 5.10. A Fibonacci grid measures retracement depth and possible extension; it does not predict that price “must” reach a level. Moving the swing anchor by one candle moves every level: a grid anchored to an unconfirmed swing is provisional. Elliott wave theory has three hard rules (a breach invalidates the count); the rest are guidelines.

Illustrative calculation (5.9; EUR/USD, 1 pip = 0.0001): move from 1.0500 → 1.1000; retracements: 23.6% = 1.0882; 38.2% = 1.0809; 50% = 1.0750; 61.8% = 1.0691; 78.6% = 1.0607. Anchoring the same grid at a swing of 1.0620 gives 38.2% = 1.0855 — a 46-pip difference from one choice of anchor. Spot FX has no inherent equity-like directional drift or centralised volume, and central-bank interventions can be direct; wave theory originated with equity indices (5.10).

Tables 8–10: timeframes and checks before a decision

From 5.11: three timeframes — the higher one supplies the trend, the main one the setup, the lower one the entry timing. A working spacing rule is 4–6× between adjacent frames (Elder’s “factor of five”). Analyse from the top down, using completed candles only. The second table gives the checks from 5.6; the third is the rule-definition checklist from 5.12. Use them before a decision and before putting a condition into a scanner or alert.

The review rhythm concerns analysis of the setup; define monitoring of open positions, orders and risk separately in the plan. Candle boundaries depend on server time (5.11): on a GMT+2/+3 “New York close” server, D1 closes at 17:00 America/New_York — usually 23:00 Europe/Warsaw, or 22:00 during the US/European DST mismatch weeks. H4 boundaries occur every four hours from that daily close; there are five D1 candles per week. On a GMT+0 server, D1 closes at 00:00 UTC — 01:00 Warsaw in winter / 02:00 in summer. Overnight movement may be split across two D1 candles, and a short Sunday candle usually appears. Conflicting frames (D1 up, H4 down) can describe a pullback or the start of a change. The previously recorded invalidation condition resolves the scenario; the higher frame usually supplies direction but does not determine the outcome (5.11).

Technical analysis cheat sheet v1.2 · conventions checked against section 5 of the Polish mybank.pl course: 11 September 2026 · confirmation = a candle close on the analysed timeframe (stars and three inside incorporate it in candle 3; soldiers/crows in the complete pattern); invalidation = a close back across the specified boundary (exception: an Elliott count can also be invalidated by a wick); swing = 2+2 rule; false breakout = a close inside the zone or beyond its opposite edge within the next 3 candles; retest = a return and close on the breakout side within 20 candles · indicator parameters are conventions, not physical limits · pattern statistics mainly come from US equities and are not Forex accuracy estimates · this cheat sheet is not investment advice

Related course material

• Section 5: technical analysis — the foundation of the conventions in this cheat sheet, supplemented by the documentation listed below: 5.1 philosophy of technical analysis (when it fails), 5.2 chart construction, 5.3 trend, support and resistance, 5.4 chart patterns, 5.5 candlestick patterns, 5.6 price action, 5.7 moving averages and trend indicators, 5.8 oscillators, 5.9 Fibonacci, 5.10 Elliott waves, 5.11 multiple timeframes, 5.12 automation and screening
• Toolkit E — trading plan and playbook template. Use the available trading plan and playbook chapter for setup cards in which to record confirmation and invalidation conditions from tables 2–4.
• Toolkit N — strategy testing protocol — before a rule from this cheat sheet enters the plan, test it with a frozen definition.
• Toolkit J — trader checklists — pre-trade questions, some of which appear again in “Checks before a decision”.
• Toolkit D — macro cheat sheet — release schedules and timing notes for the calendar check. Also use the economic calendar chapter.
• Toolkit B — currency pair profiles — the sessions and hours when each pair is active, for the session check.
• Toolkit I — trader code kit — the kit covers session windows in Pine Script (S6) and journal scripts. The available Python in trading chapter introduces automation; Toolkit H, prompt P3 helps review your rule before automating it.
• Glossary — entries: support and resistance, breakout, chart pattern, candlestick pattern, price action, moving average, RSI, MACD, ADX, ATR, divergence, Fibonacci, Elliott waves, MTF, look-ahead bias