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Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Get To Know The Hanging Man Pattern When You Learn Technical Analysis

By Chris Blanchet

For full-time investors who rely on volatility and day-to-day fluctuations in security prices, it is an understatement that they must learn technical analysis. Such analysis enables them to make appropriate changes to their positions, but not all technical analysis accommodates short-term trading. For traders who look to take advantage of quick entry and exit points, short-term patterns are their best allies.

This installment of the Learn Technical Analysis Series examines a short-term pattern called the Hanging Man. With an eye on the short-term outlook of a security, this pattern indicates when it is time to sell an existing position or sell short a non-existent one. In other words, it is a bearish signal.

When trying to identify a Hanging Man pattern, investors need to pull up the candlestick chart for the security in question. Rookie investors who have just begun to learn technical analysis will identify this type of chart type by a day's "Real Body" which is a box made up of one horizontal line for the security's open and another horizontal line for the close, and two vertical lines that join them (or box them in). The "Shadow" is the range in which the security trades over and below the Real Body.

When it comes to the Real Body of a Hanging Man, it will need to be a "Black Body" meaning the security closed lower than it opened. The Shadow will look like a tail with preferrably no Shadow above the Real Body. The tail should also be rather long, ideally twice as long as the box of the Real Body. For investors who are just starting to learn technical analysis, the Hanging Man might look more like a square tadpole than a hanging man.

As with any pattern, people who learn technical analysis will still want to confirm signals with other indicators, including fundamental analysis.

On the open of the day following the Hanging Man pattern, investors should seek a gap down from the Real Body of the pattern. The wider the gap (the farther down it opens from the Real Body) the better. Additional confirmation can be obtained if the Real Body of the day that follows the pattern is entirely below the Real Body of the Hanging Man pattern. Since most traders who learn technical analysis will not wait two days to execute a trade based on a Hanging Man, other technical and fundamental indicators should be used to confirm or refute the pattern early.

In some cases, bullish market activity could produce a false Hanging Man pattern. Investors can confirm a false pattern when the open of the next day's session is higher than the Real Body of the signaling Hanging Man pattern. As well, investors should be wary of White Real Body patterns, which occurs when the pattern's close is higher than the open.

Even after people learn technical analysis, they will never rely on a single pattern to make a decision on a security. In most cases, they will use the pattern as a starting point and refer to other patterns and indicators to confirm or refute that indication. The more confirmation they have, the smarter their trades and consequently the higher their success. - 23305

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