Bullish and Bearish Harami

Harami means 'pregnant' in Japanese — the large first candle is the mother, the small second is inside. Bullish harami: large bearish candle followed by smaller bullish candle inside its body. Bearish harami: large bullish followed by smaller bearish inside.

Harami signals deceleration more than decisive reversal. The trend that produced the mother candle is losing steam. Manual traders treat harami as setup development, not execution — wait for a third candle break of the harami high/low.

Quality improves when the mother candle is a marubozu or strong trend candle into a level, and the inside candle is a doji or spinning top. The combination screams 'pause at extreme.'

Bullish harami at support with HTF alignment can precede sharp reversals. Bearish harami at resistance warns long holders. In strong trends, harami may only produce shallow pullbacks — do not assume full reversal.

Trading trigger: buy above harami high (bullish) or sell below harami low (bearish) with stop on the other side of the mother candle or harami structure.