Ichimoku Kijun-sen Reclaim Long: How to Trade It

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What it is and when it applies

This page helps you decide whether to buy the close back above the Kijun-sen after a short dip below it, or to pass. It applies in an uptrend that sits above the Ichimoku cloud. The stop goes under the dip's low, and that distance sets the size.

On the chart, price is above the cloud and the Kijun-sen is rising. A candle closes below the Kijun-sen, then within a few candles another closes back above it. The Kijun-sen is the midpoint of the last 60 candles, and a close back above it says the dip did not hold. All lines use this manual's house settings, Ichimoku Cloud (20, 60, 120, 30).

The belief is that a pullback to the middle of the recent range can end, and buyers can return there. It is a belief, not a rule. Price can close back above the line and fall through it again, and this page cites no test of how often a reclaim continues up. A quiet range also produces many crosses of a flat Kijun-sen, so the page passes on those.

It fits a rising chart above the cloud with a dip that stays shallow. It does not fit a range, a dip that trades into the cloud, or a chart where the Kijun-sen is flat.

Before you enter

The long is wrong if a candle closes below the dip's low. The pullback then went further than a dip. The stop order goes at the lowest low from the first close below the Kijun-sen through the reclaim close, minus a buffer. The Kijun-sen itself is not the stop, because price already traded below it once, and the line is inside the noise of the dip. The examples assume a buffer of 0.5 x ATR(14), the manual's usual convention and not a rule. A wider buffer takes a bigger move to reach and shrinks the position, and a tighter one does the reverse. Stop-loss placement explains the level and the order.

This manual's house constraints are a planned loss of 1-2% of the account per trade and a 3x maximum leverage. They are choices, not a recommended allocation, and less, or no position, is always allowed. Sizing inputs:

Account risk: the planned loss in cash, 1-2% of equity or lower.
Entry price: the assumed fill, near the reclaim candle's close.
Stop price: the dip's lowest low minus the buffer.
Cost allowance: a per-unit amount for fees and slippage, added to the stop distance, plus funding for the planned hold. The examples assume 0.3 per unit, an illustrative figure (trading costs and liquidity covers it).
Leverage cap: the leverage setting, and all open position values plus this one over account equity, 3 or less.
Liquidation distance: the ticket's estimated liquidation price, below the stop for a long. If the gap is not wide, lower the leverage setting.

Units = planned loss / (entry minus stop, plus allowance), rounded down (position sizing has the sum). Units x (distance + allowance) is the planned loss if the stop fills at its price. A gap, slippage or funding can make the realised loss larger.

For arithmetic only, assume a 10,000 account, a planned loss of 1%, or 100, and ATR(14) of 2, so the buffer is 1. The Kijun-sen is 100, up from 98 ten candles earlier. Two closes below it come in at 99.2 and 99.6, with a lowest low of 97, then a candle closes at 101.5. The stop is 96. Entry at 101.5 is 5.5 from the stop, 5.8 with the allowance. The size is 100 / 5.8, about 17.2, so 17 units (assume whole units), worth 1,725.50, or 0.17 of the account. The planned loss with costs is 17 x 5.8 = 98.6, and costs are about 5% of it.

A sizing diagram: a stop distance of 5.8 per unit made of a 1 buffer, 4.5 to the entry and 0.3 costs, giving 17 whole units from 17.2, and a planned loss of 98.6 under the plan of 100. — Illustration, not real price data. Hypothetical sizing. The stop sits 1 under the dip's low of 97, so a unit risks 5.8 with costs. 100 / 5.8 rounds down to 17 units, and 17 x 5.8 = 98.6 stays under the planned 100.

Conditions

Each of these must be checkable on the chart. The thresholds marked as assumed are house choices that you write down before the trade.

Above the cloud. The reclaim close is above the top edge of the cloud under it, and no candle during the dip traded below the top edge of the cloud under that candle.
A rising Kijun-sen. The Kijun-sen is above its value 10 candles earlier by at least 0.5 x ATR(14) at the latest candle (assumed). Flat does not count.
The dip. One or more consecutive closes below the Kijun-sen, for no more than 5 candles (assumed). A close exactly on the line is not below it.
The reclaim. The trigger candle is the first close above the Kijun-sen after the dip. Entry is that close.
Chikou span clear. The reclaim close is above the high of the candle 30 back.
Cloud ahead not red. Span A is at or above span B on the latest candle.
Not stretched. The reclaim close is no more than 3 x ATR(14) above the Kijun-sen (assumed).
Context chart. On the chart above yours (assume the daily), price is not below its own cloud.
Room. If a marked resistance band sits overhead, the reward to it after costs passes a test you wrote before the trade. If nothing is marked overhead, the exit rule is the plan.

A price scale: Kijun-sen at 100, cloud top at 94. A dip to a low of 97 stays above the cloud and qualifies. A dip to 93.5 trades under the top edge: pass. — Illustration, not real price data. A dip to a low of 97 stays above the cloud's top edge at 94. A dip down to 93.5 goes under it, so price is no longer an uptrend above the cloud. No order exists.

Reasons to pass

Passing is a valid result. Pass when:

the Kijun-sen and the cloud are both flat
a candle during the dip traded below the cloud's top edge
the dip lasted more than 5 candles
the dip's low is so far down that the size the stop allows is below the exchange minimum, or costs come to more than one fifth of the planned loss. Do not move the stop to the Kijun-sen to fit the budget
the reclaim close is more than 3 x ATR(14) above the Kijun-sen
the Chikou span sits inside the candles 30 back
a marked resistance band sits just above entry and the reward fails your written test

Entry

Entry on the reclaim close

The trigger is the reclaim candle's close, so wait for the candle to finish. Place a limit order at or just below that close, or a market order if getting in matters more than the fill price. A limit order expires after 3 candles (assumed). The stop is a reduce-only stop-market sell at the dip's lowest low minus the buffer. A stop-limit caps the fill price but can sit unfilled in a gap (order types explains).

A schematic chart above a cloud topped at 94: a Kijun-sen at 100, two closes under it at 99.2 and 99.6 with a low of 97, then a reclaim close at 101.5. Stop 96. — Illustration, not real price data. Hypothetical levels on schematic candles. Two closes dip under the Kijun-sen at 100, to a low of 97, then one closes at 101.5. Entry is near 101.5, the stop 96: the dip's low less 1.

Variation: the Kijun hold

Price trades down to the line and a reversal candle prints, without a close below it. This variation replaces the dip and the reclaim with a hold. The Kijun-sen moves, so the zone is fixed at the first candle of the reversal pattern, from that candle's Kijun-sen and ATR(14): the Kijun-sen plus or minus 0.5 x ATR(14). The zone stands in for the marked band on the candle page, and it is looser than a band drawn from earlier touches. A hammer or a bullish engulfing candle forms with its low inside that zone, the closes stay above the Kijun-sen, and the trigger is a close above the pattern's highest high. The stop is the pattern's lowest low minus the buffer. With the Kijun-sen at 100 and ATR(14) at 2, the zone is 99 to 101 and the buffer 1. A hammer with a low of 99.4 and a high of 101.4, then a trigger close at 102, gives a stop at 98.4, a distance of 3.9 with the allowance, 100 / 3.9, about 25.6, so 25 units. The other conditions and the exit are unchanged, apart from the dip and reclaim conditions it replaces. The candle page's other context rules apply, a trend written down and a close beyond the pattern, and a flat Kijun-sen with a flat cloud is a pass. For the hold, the idea is wrong on a close below the pattern's lowest low. The orders are the same as the reclaim's, and an unfilled order is cancelled if a candle closes below the Kijun-sen.

A schematic: a zone of 99 to 101 around the Kijun-sen at 100, a hammer low of 99.4, high 101.4, and a trigger close at 102. Stop 98.4, 3.9 per unit, 25 units. — Illustration, not real price data. Hypothetical levels on schematic candles. A hammer with a low of 99.4 forms inside the zone around the Kijun-sen at 100. A close at 102 above its high of 101.4 triggers, with the stop at 98.4 and 25 units.

Execution assumptions

Assume a limit order that fills at its price, 0.3 per unit for fees and slippage, and a stop-market that fills at the next available price. If price runs away without a fill, do not chase: the stop stays at the dip's low, so the distance grows. Cancel the order if a candle closes back below the Kijun-sen before it fills.

Hypothetical walkthrough

Hypothetical walkthrough. Invented prices and an invented outcome, chosen to teach the decision. Not a recorded trade, and not evidence of how often this setup works.

The reader writes the plan before the dip: if a 4-hour candle closes back above a rising Kijun-sen of 100 within 5 candles of closing below it, with every low above the cloud's top edge of 94, buy near the close with the stop under the dip's low minus 1. The reclaim at 101.5 with a dip low of 97 passes: it is 0.75 x ATR(14) above the Kijun-sen. The size is 17 units and the planned loss with costs is 98.6.

Now change one fact. A candle in the dip trades down to 93.5, under the cloud's top edge of 94. The later reclaim above 100 looks the same, but price is no longer an uptrend above the cloud. No order exists, and the pass is logged with its reason. The outcome was chosen to show a clean reclaim ending in a pass because the dip entered the cloud.

Exits

Stop. Keep the reduce-only stop-market at the dip's lowest low minus the buffer until the exit rule moves it. A decision-timeframe close below the dip's low means the idea is wrong: close by hand and cancel any unfilled orders.

The exit. This page uses one exit, written before entry: a structure trail. After entry, each time a swing low confirms, move the stop to that low minus the buffer, but only if that level is above the current stop. A swing low here is a candle whose low is below the lows of the 3 candles on each side (assumed). It is only known 3 candles after it prints. The stop only moves toward price. Once the trail moves the stop, the order itself is the exit, and a wick can fill it before any close. Taking profit covers what this gives back against a break-even stop and against the Chandelier trail.

A schematic of seven candles. The fourth has a lower low than the 3 candles on each side: a swing low. It is known only after 3 more candles, then the stop moves up. — Illustration, not real price data. Schematic candles. A swing low has lower lows than the 3 candles on each side, so it is only known 3 candles after it prints. Then the trail moves the stop to that low less the buffer, only upward.

For arithmetic only, with the 17 units above, each result is 17 x (stop - 101.5 - 0.3), and R is 98.6.

Confirmed swing low	Stop (low minus 1)	Net result if it fills there	R
None yet, the dip low of 97	96	-98.6	-1.00
99	98	-64.6	-0.66
102	101	-13.6	-0.14
106	105	+54.4	+0.55
111	110	+139.4	+1.41

The rows are a ladder of stop positions, not a forecast that price climbs. There is no fixed target. R stays measured against the original 98.6.

Five horizontal bars for a long of 17 units from 101.5: minus 98.6 at the first stop of 96, then minus 64.6, minus 13.6, plus 54.4 and plus 139.4 as the stop trails up to 110. — Illustration, not real price data. Hypothetical ladder of stop positions, not a forecast. With 17 units from 101.5, the first stop at 96 loses 98.6, or 1 R. Each confirmed swing low lifts the stop, and one at 111 puts it at 110.

Common pitfalls

Buying the first close above in a flat Kijun-sen. A flat line and a flat cloud mean a range. Pass.
Calling a deep dip a dip. A dip that trades into the cloud is not one here. Pass.
Moving the stop to the Kijun-sen to get size. The dip's low is where the idea is wrong. Take the smaller position, or pass.
Trailing on a low that has not confirmed. A swing low is only known 3 candles later.
Re-entering without a new plan. A second reclaim after a stop-out needs its own stop and size, and it adds to total planned loss.

What this cannot tell you

Whether the reclaim holds. One close above the Kijun-sen is one observation. Price can close back under it.
Whether the dip is over. A dip that stops near the Kijun-sen and one that continues to the cloud look alike until later candles print.
How deep a dip can go. The conditions limit it to the cloud's top edge and the size the stop allows, so a dip can be deep and still qualify.
How far the trend runs. The trail follows price. It gives no target.
Where the stop fills. A fast market can fill it past the dip's low and make the realised loss larger than the planned loss.

Questions

What is the difference between a Kijun-sen reclaim and a Kijun-sen bounce?

A reclaim needs a close below the line first and a close back above. A bounce, or hold, touches the line and a reversal candle prints with the closes staying above. Both are covered here, with different triggers and different stops.

Why not use the Kijun-sen as the stop?

Price has already traded below it in the dip, so the line is inside the noise. The dip's low is the level that, once broken, means the pullback has gone beyond a dip.

Does the Kijun-sen act as support?

Many traders believe so. This page cites no test that price holds at the line more than at other prices, so the setup does not depend on it. It depends on the written conditions and the stop.