1-min two-candle reversal
This scalping strategy looks for a sharp two-candle reversal on 1-minute NIFTY futures charts. A rising candle followed by a falling one that opens below its close and closes below its open signals a short; the mirror image signals a long. A very short 5-bar average must agree, the stop goes just beyond the last three candles, and there is no target, so winners run to 15:15.How it trades
Results
PRE-BUILT · DEFAULTSWhere it made and lost money
With a tight three-candle stop and no target, this strategy loses small and often and needs a day that keeps going. Trend days, sessions closing near their high or low, made ₹2,24,039 over 199 trades, because the few trades that survived the stop rode the move to 15:15. Quiet sessions with a range under 0.75% lost ₹1,20,878 over 325 trades and choppy days ₹62,579 over 207, as one-minute noise hit the stop repeatedly. Calm markets helped: India VIX below 11.5 made ₹48,601 over 177 trades, while VIX above 14.5 lost ₹21,470 over 218. Figures are before costs.
About this strategy
- Build 1-minute NIFTY futures candles each session and a 5-bar simple moving average of the closes.
- Short signal: a rising candle followed by a falling candle whose high is below the first candle's close, whose close is below the first candle's open and whose low is below the first candle's low, with the 5-bar average above the close.
- Long signal: the mirror image, with the average below the close.
- Between 09:20 and 15:00, trade one lot at the next tick after the signal candle closes.
- Place the stop beyond the highest high (short) or lowest low (long) of the last three candles. There is no target.
- Close anything open at 15:15. Up to four trades a day, one at a time.
Why traders use it
A candle that opens beyond the previous candle's close and then closes beyond its open shows a quick change of control, a miniature engulfing pattern. On 1-minute charts these signals appear often, and the stop just beyond three candles keeps each loss small. Leaving out a target lets the rare strong move run for the rest of the session, a classic small-loss, big-win scalping profile. The short average filter checks that the reversal agrees with the most recent price trend.
The year in plain words
With default settings on NIFTY from 1 Oct 2025 to 30 Sep 2026, the strategy made 736 trades and won only 15%. Before costs it made ₹42,409, a profit factor of 1.06: 626 trades were stopped out for an average ₹1,135, while 107 winners averaged ₹7,071. October (₹41,621) was the best month and May (₹44,143 lost) the worst, and one losing streak ran to 35 trades. With a median hold of 11 minutes and around 60 trades a month, ₹20 per order and bid-ask slippage turned the result into a ₹1,22,857 loss.
What the settings do
Risks
- Losing streaks are very long; one ran to 35 trades in this test.
- High trade frequency makes costs decisive, turning a small profit into a large loss.
- One-minute patterns are noisy, and fills can slip past the stop on fast candles.
- Profit depends on a small number of trend days.
Who it suits
Traders researching one-minute scalping patterns who want to see how a small-loss, big-win profile behaves on NIFTY futures, and how costs change the picture at this frequency.
Questions traders ask
What is a two-candle reversal pattern?
It is a pair of candles in opposite directions where the second opens beyond the first candle's close and closes beyond its open, similar to an engulfing pattern. It suggests control has switched from buyers to sellers or the reverse.
Is the 1-minute two-candle reversal profitable?
From 1 Oct 2025 to 30 Sep 2026 on NIFTY futures it made ₹42,409 before costs but lost ₹1,22,857 after ₹20 per order and bid-ask slippage, over 736 trades. Past results do not guarantee future ones.
Why is there no profit target?
With a tight stop, most trades lose a little. The strategy relies on the few that keep going, so it lets them run until 15:15 rather than capping them. Adding a target would reduce the big winners that pay for the losses.
Can it be used on stocks?
Yes, the symbol can be set to any F&O stock future, which is how the pattern was first used. This write-up covers only the NIFTY futures default, and stocks have different noise levels and costs, so each symbol would need its own test.