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Figure 1. Black Spinning Top (basic candle).
Japanese name: koma
Forecast: lack of determination
Trend prior to the pattern: n/a
Opposite candlestick: White Spinning Top
Construction:
- black body
- at least one shadow required
- body cannot be larger than any of the shadows
- appears as a short line
- if none of the shadows exceeds three times the body, it is allowed to appear as a long line
Interpretation of this candle is the same as of the White Spinning Top. Please see that article for more details.
Figure 2. The chart presents many instances of Black Spinning Top basic candle. Some of them occur alone or forming part of other patterns, both in an uptrend and a downtrend.
The first occurrence of Bearish Harami (July 2009), depending on how we interpret the doji body, may also be considered as a Bearish Harami Cross pattern. Black Spinning Top opening price equals $21.85, closing price equals $21.84 and its body equals 3.57% of the whole candle height. Normally, a doji candle occurs when the opening price equals the closing price, but in CandleScanner we can be more flexible. In fact, visually inspecting the chart most of us would say that such candle is a doji rather than a Black Spinning Top.
Similar situation occurs in August 2009 where Bearish Harami Cross occurred, but there the second line is considered as a doji candle (otherwise we would have a Bearish Harami pattern).
It may be asked why, after the three occurrences of Bearish Harami (Cross) patterns, the market virtually did not decline. We can try to answer this question by looking at a number of White Candles and upward gaps prior to the bearish patterns. On the chart, you can see indicated the last support level, which was more than enough to negate the Bearish Harami and the prediction of the trend change.
