Fake Moves: The Catalysts of Trading

Fake Moves — Recognizing Deceptive Chart Patterns

Large market participants are active across every timeframe. To steer prices in a desired direction, they employ displacement tactics — deceptive maneuvers disguised as classic chart patterns traded daily by millions of intraday traders.

Using more than 200 illustrated charts, this book describes which patterns are particularly prone to such deceptions. A historical comparison reveals why classic chart patterns offer no reliable basis for determining market direction — and may be more useful as a contrarian signal.

Structure

Part 1 organizes deception-prone patterns by type and explains them systematically.

Part 2 describes combinations of multiple patterns that, based on experience, tend to occur ahead of significant market moves.

Part 3 offers practical advice, tips, and filter strategies for daily analysis.

What Readers Will Take Away

• Rethinking habitual ways of viewing the market
• Locating the onset of significant intraday moves
• Improved recognition of market direction changes
• Contextual interpretation of chart structures
• Support for independent trading decisions
• Contrarian thinking, distinct from the trading crowd
• Reduced cognitive dissonance in the analysis process

Order Flow and auction theory alone are not a trading system. Combined with recognizing Fake Moves — which occur daily in large numbers on futures markets — they form effective analytical tools. The book provides systematic support for spotting these patterns and deepening market understanding. Mastering the material takes practice — but with growing experience, it enables a more selective approach to trading situations with clearer market structure.

Table of Contents

Foundations

1. Introduction · 2. The Bibles of Technical Analysis · 3. A Look into the Past

Patterns (Chapter 4)

• SHS — symmetrical, asymmetrical, Hunchback, Multiple Type, Diamond
• Double Tops/Bottoms — Backfire Pattern, Double Fake
• Zigzags — bullish & bearish
• Rounding Bottom — Classic, Cup and Handle
• Trading Ranges — Simple/Double Breakout Deception, Pullback Fake, Faded Ledge
• Triangles — symmetrical, inverse, Wedge
• Trendlines and Channels — ascending & descending
• Flags · Squeezes (Bull/Bear) · Fibonacci Fakes · Faded Pinbars
• Option Strike Fakes — Futures & Stocks

Combinations & Filters (Chapters 5–7)

• Combinations — Uniform & Hybrid
• Stoprunning Fakes — Premarket, Pre-Pit-Session, RTH Patterns
• Tips, Tricks & Filters — Key Zones, Midpoints, Divergence, Timeframe/Market Confirm, Liquidity & Velocity Check, and more

Closing
8. Common Mistakes · 9. Final Words · 10. Literature

About the Author

Johannes Forthmann is a German economist with more than 25 years of experience in day trading. From 2001 to 2005, he trained under US trading veteran Joe Ross. He worked for a Swiss trading house on futures hedging strategies and founded a European educational publishing house in 2020, along with an online day trading academy.

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