Learning to Read Ichimoku Charts

The Japanese word "Ichimoku" can be translated as "one look" or "one glance." A Japanese newspaper man whose real name was Goichi Hosada, but who used the pen name "Ichimoku Sanjin," invented a charting technique before WWII.

Ichimoku's guidebook on the charts finally appeared in 1968, many years later. An article by Ken Muranaka which introduces these charts can be found at the following link.


ichimoku.pdf (application/pdf Object)

Although Mr. Muranaka translates many Japanese words to English, I think he goes a bit too far when he talks about "the standard line" and "the turning line." It is just as easy to go with the Japanese words for these, which are Kijun-Sen and Tenkan-Sen. The reason I say this is that the Ichimoku charts I look at most frequently come from the London office of the Mizuho Bank, and they show the lines simply as Kijun Sen and Tenkan Sen, rather than translating them into English. They are just wiggly lines on a chart, so it doesn't matter much what you call them. I just think it is less confusing if we use the names that appear on the charts you can look at every day.

http://www.mizuho-cb.co.uk/TresInternet/PDF'S/eur.pdf

For example, today's chart of the Euro/US$ showing the Ichimoku chart. More later.