Tests for Two-Day Candlestick Patterns in the Emerging Equity Market of Taiwan

Using the Taiwan 50 Index component stocks for the period from January 2, 2002, to December 31, 2009, this study examines the predictive power of candlestick trading strategies. A four-digit numbers approach is employed to categorize two-day candlestick patterns. We find that the Taiwanese stock market is not efficient. We also document that two candlestick bullish patterns consistently outperform others. The main contributions of this study include addressing a range of two-day candlestick patterns, finding existing patterns not profitable, and showing two new patterns as profitable.