Candlestick patterns
APEX supports five candlestick confirmation patterns, each looking for a different type of institutional conviction at the moment of the breakout. Understanding what each pattern represents — and why it works — helps you decide which ones to enable for your trading style.
How patterns work in APEX: Patterns use OR logic — a signal fires if the breakout candle matches any enabled pattern. Engulfing is on by default. Add others one at a time and observe how they behave on your preferred instruments before enabling them permanently.
Engulfing Body
Default — always on
The breakout candle must close beyond the session range with a body at least 50% of its total high-low range. Doji candles and small indecision bars are filtered out — only candles showing real commitment pass.
Why it works: A large-bodied close beyond the range shows that buyers (or sellers) were in full control for the entire bar — no significant pushback from the opposing side. This is institutional conviction, not retail noise.
Marubozu
Strong momentum
A full-bodied candle with virtually no wicks — price opened near one extreme and closed near the other with no meaningful rejection. The strongest single-bar momentum signal available.
Why it works: No wicks means nobody successfully pushed back against the move. Institutions entered and held their position for the entire bar — there was no hesitation. These candles often precede the strongest sustained moves of the session.
Pin Bar / Liquidity Grab
ICT liquidity concept
A candle with a long rejection wick (at least 60% of the total range) that sweeps into or through the session range before closing strongly back beyond it. The wick is the footprint of a stop hunt.
Why it works: Institutions deliberately drive price to known stop levels to trigger retail stop losses, accumulating liquidity before the real move. The pin bar is the visual signature of this — the wick hunts stops, the body shows where price actually wanted to go.
Two-Bar Reversal
Extra confirmation
A small indecision candle is followed by a larger candle that fully engulfs it in the breakout direction. The two-candle sequence provides more confirmation than a single bar — at the cost of a slightly later entry.
Why it works: The small first bar shows the market pausing at the range boundary — testing resistance. The large second bar is the resolution — institutions committing to the breakout direction after the test. The higher body size requirement filters out weak follow-through.
Fakey / False Break
Stop hunt reversal
Price briefly breaks one side of the range, fails to follow through, then reverses and closes strongly beyond the other side in the same bar or the next. The classic institutional stop hunt pattern.
Why it works: Retail traders place stop losses just beyond range boundaries. Institutions deliberately breach those levels to trigger the stops, collecting liquidity, then reverse sharply in the real intended direction. The Fakey is arguably the most ICT-authentic pattern in the indicator — it literally identifies the moment the stop hunt completes.
Choosing which patterns to enable
All five patterns are looking for the same thing — institutional commitment at a key breakout level. The difference is how much evidence they require and at what point in the move they fire:
- Engulfing — broadest filter, fires on most valid breakouts. Best starting point for all traders.
- Marubozu — narrowest filter, fewest signals, highest conviction. Best on trending days with clean momentum.
- Pin Bar — catches the liquidity grab setup. Most aligned with ICT methodology. Best on forex pairs with clear stop levels.
- Two-Bar — slightly later entry but more confirmation. Best when you want to reduce false starts after a choppy session.
- Fakey — highest conviction setup when it appears, but rarest. Best enabled alongside Engulfing rather than alone.
Recommended approach: Start with Engulfing only for your first month. Once you can visually identify all five patterns on your charts without the indicator's help, selectively enable the ones that suit your instrument and session. More patterns enabled does not mean better results — it means more signals, some of which will be lower quality.