The four-candle fractal model: C1, C2, C3, and C4

The four-candle fractal model organizes price delivery into four functional stages. The labels describe roles in a sequence — they don't predict what any candle must do — and the same anatomy repeats on every timeframe pairing.

The model at a glance

C1 — the reference

C1 frames the map: its high and low, nearby swings, higher-timeframe imbalances, and the liquidity above and below. No entry lives here. Roles come from structure, not from counting any four consecutive bars.

C2 — the reversal candidate

C2 sweeps one side of the reference and body-closes back through it — below a prior low and back above (bullish), or the mirror (bearish). Color is irrelevant. Geometry alone isn't enough: the sweep must land at a qualified point of interest, and the paired lower timeframe must confirm. No qualified location, no setup. Details: Candle 2 closure.

Wick profile sets the preference: a large reversal wick already spent much of the move — favor C3. A small wick with an expansion body — the C2 itself is the trade, and a later C3 becomes chase-risk. There is no universal numeric cutoff; treat it as context.

C3 — continuation (and the late-closure path)

Canonical C3 is expansion after a valid C2. Before acting, ask: was C2 actually valid, did the pair confirm, is there room to the next objective, and has too much already delivered? A correct idea at a bad location is still a bad location.

A separate path exists: if C2 swept but failed to close back, the next candle's body close back through the original boundary is a C3 reversal closure — it inherits the original sweep's location; it never searches forward for a new one.

C4 — terminal

Actionable C4 context requires a delivered C3, and chronology is not delivery. Delivery quality is about genuine expansion rather than an overlapping candle; FMP grades it and reports delivered or held. The model ends at C4. No C5, no C6, no rolling relabels.

Continuation, delivery quality, and how equilibrium frames the C4 retrace are covered in Candle 3 and Candle 4 delivery.

The timeframe chain

Each arrow is its own model/confirmation pair: 15m → 4H → 1D → 1W. A 15-minute C2 is not a four-hour C2 — every tier completes on its own clock, and an unfinished higher-timeframe candle is not a final one. Full treatment: multi-timeframe analysis.

FAQ

Are C1–C4 always four consecutive candles?

No — confirmation can be delayed and designations chain through trends. Validity comes from the rules, not the count.

Is C2 always the better entry?

No. C2 offers earlier location with less evidence; C3 offers more evidence with chase risk. The C2 wick profile frames the trade-off.

Can C4 keep going in the same direction?

It can — "terminal" means the sequence stops being extended, not that price must reverse. No candle sequence removes uncertainty; practice in simulation and define maximum loss before entry.

Fractal Model Pro draws these designations, projections, and live-vs-finalized states automatically — as analysis, not as signals.