just curious if candlesticks work? any trader out there successfully using candlestick or chart pattern(exclude support and resistance)? (maybe along with some other tech analysis). i always thought using math SMA, EMA, stochastic etc is the better tool for better predicating bottom/top.
I highly recommend you just do some backtesting of anything you're interested in using. The results will be much better than than anyone's answer that's clueless about what you're trying to do. In addition, don't use them alone. That means your trade analysis (whatever that is) should give you the direction but your trade signal tells you when to enter and exit. If you're not willing to do the work by yourself...just research Google.
They do their job of displaying the price. That's "working", isn't it? If you're asking whether they have predictive powers, in and of themselves, regarding future price-movement direction, the answer's "no". I prefer bars to candles, myself. Both display the same price information, of course (open, high, low, close over a specified period) but bars visually accentuate the highs and lows, whereas candles accentuate the open and close more. I don't like that, myself, because highs and lows are objective and factual, but opens and closes are interpretative and periodicity-dependent. Aspiring traders are often quick to attribute predictive powers to indicators of various kinds (albeit perhaps more in hope than from experience), but that isn't my perception, at all.
By the way, You can ask SMA, EMA, stochastic etc ... They are the best too in this domain. I mean ... It's better than wikipedia. They can tell you the answer. About life and everything. Can predict way more than Tops and Bottoms. Have you seen the movie Minority Report ? Even Precogs can't compete.
Candlestick is good for "Price Action" trading. I use bar charts. No need for Doji .. Death stars ...
I've been trying everything for years to get a consistent edge, I can assure you, can't sticks and price patterns are not in. Learn to understand, Ranges/Chop and Momentum! ie market is going sideways between these prices, or maybe kinda sideways with an upward bias.