Strat Candle Types: 1, 2u, 2d, and 3
Every Strat setup is spelled with a four-letter alphabet. Learn these and you can read any chart in the vocabulary: a candle is always a 1, a 2u, a 2d, or a 3 — defined purely by which sides of the previous candle's range it takes out.
1 — the inside bar
An inside bar stays entirely within the previous candle's range. Nothing was decided; the market is coiling. Insides are where moves are born — both of its trigger levels (the high and the low) are live, and the break of either one is the next directional event.
2u and 2d — the directional bars
A 2 breaks exactly one side of the prior candle. One-sided conviction: buyers took the high (2u) or sellers took the low (2d), and the other side held. Trends are chains of 2s in the same direction — which is why a 2 that FAILS and trades back through its level is such a powerful tell.
3 — the outside bar
The outside bar takes both sides of the previous candle: a stop run in both directions inside one bar. Maximum volatility, and both breakout crowds trapped somewhere. The community also calls it a mother bar — subsequent candles often live inside its range for a while, and its extremes become the levels that matter.
From letters to words
Sequences make setups: 2-1-2 (directional, pause, resolution), 1-2-2 Rev Strat (a failed breakout from compression), 3-1-1 (an outside bar coiling down twice), triple inside (1-1-1, the rarest coil). Each named setup is just a sentence in this alphabet with a defined trigger level.
See it live, right now
Every concept on this page is detected in real time across 190+ tickers — candle typing, trigger levels, and alerts the second a level breaks.
FAQ
What does 2u mean in TheStrat?
A candle that breaks the previous candle's high without breaking its low — a directional bar up. 2d is the mirror: breaks the low, holds the high.
Can a candle change its number while it's forming?
Yes. A live candle starts as a potential 1, becomes a 2 the moment it takes a side, and becomes a 3 if it later takes the other side too. That is why serious Strat alerting is done in real time, at the break, not at the close.
What is a mother bar?
Community shorthand for an outside bar (3) whose range contains the candles that follow. Its high and low become the governing trigger levels until price escapes the range.
Keep learning
Educational content, not financial advice. Patterns describe probabilities, not promises.