Don't forget there will be noise around your signals due to other tf's acting out ... that might be the reason you found it doesn't 'work' backtesting ... my advise trade eur/usd (at oanda, where you can adjust size to your liking) ... it's a really great market if you get it, stocks are harder imo ... second advise: move up in tf first a bit: go to the 10M/15M and try to find out how they work before you move to much lower tf's ...
moonmist, I completely agree. The more traders that understand that they must understand the price action that they're trading prior to the appearance of their trade signals...the more reliable their trade signals will be. Its easy to see who these traders are that don't understand the price action being traded...they are the ones that concentrate solely on their trade signals...tweaking, changing parameters and so on. That's the main reason why computer codes, automation of Japanese Candlestick patterns aren't reliable...there's no market context. Its also the primary reason why traders that understand market context will outperform traders without market context while both using the exact same trade signals. Thus, traders that fail at using Japanese Candlestick Analysis, either don't understand market context or have an inadequate trading plan or both. Simply, I recommend to any trader that if he/she does not understand market context and does not have an adequate trading plan (e.g. proper money management, proper capitalization, proper position size management, discipline, proper trading environment and so on)...save your money and go find another career.