The three methods include the bullish rising three and a bearish falling three methods. These are both continuation patterns. That is, the trend before the bullish rising three methods should continue higher once the bullish three pattern is completed. Likewise, a bear trend remains in effect after the bearish falling three pattern.

The rising three pattern is composed of:

• A long white candle.
• The white candle is followed by a group of falling or lateral small real body candles. The ideal number of small candles is three but two or more than three are also acceptable if they hold within the long white candle's high-low range. The small candles can be either color, but black is the most ideal for this pattern.
• The final day should be a strong white real body session with a close above the first day's close. The final candle line should ideally also open above the close of the previous session.

The falling three pattern is the bearish counterpart of the rising three pattern. For this pattern, the market should be in a downtrend. A long black candle is followed by about three small rising candles whose real bodies hold within the first candle's range including shadows. The final session should open under the prior close and then close under the first black candle's close.