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Ichimoku Kinkō Hyō

Hosoda's system: Tenkan 9, Kijun 26 and an equilibrium cloud projected 26 periods ahead. Not averages of closes but range midpoints — a complete map of trend, levels and momentum at a glance.

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The Ichimoku Kinkō Hyō — "the equilibrium chart at a glance" — is the life's work of Japanese journalist Goichi Hosoda, published in 1969 after thirty years of development. It is not an indicator but a complete system: five lines answering trend, momentum and levels together. The technical difference from Western averages is the ingredient: not averages of closes but range midpoints — (high + low) / 2 of the window — the centre of the contested territory, the equilibrium.

In plain terms — Every Ichimoku line asks the same thing: "what is the equilibrium point of the last 9, 26, 52 sessions?". Price far from equilibrium tends to return to it; equilibrium projected forward — the cloud — becomes the map of the levels price will meet.

The five lines

Line Formula Role
Tenkan-sen (9) 9-period range midpoint Short-term equilibrium — the fast line
Kijun-sen (26) 26-period range midpoint The reference equilibrium — trend and stop base
Senkou Span A (Tenkan + Kijun)/2, projected +26 First edge of the cloud
Senkou Span B 52-period range midpoint, projected +26 Second edge — the slowest
Chikou Span today's close, shifted −26 Comparison with the past: confirmation

Between Span A and Span B stretches the Kumo, the cloud: a zone — not a line — of support and resistance, drawn 26 periods into the future.

How to read the chart — Price (line) with Tenkan (gold), Kijun (blue) and the cloud projected beyond the "now" line: everything computed with the real formulas (9, 26, 52). Chikou omitted for clarity. Interactive — the points show the Tenkan/Kijun cross, the cloud as a zone and the +26 projection.

SYSTEM · TREND Ichimoku — balance at a single glance Tenkan 9 · Kijun 26 · cloud = range midpoints projected +26 CYCLEPEDIA DIAGRAM — EMICICLO ICHIMOKU KINKŌ HYŌ (9, 26, 52) now Tenkan 9 Kijun 26 Kumo (projected +26) TK cross Kumo +26 BARS ABOVE THE KUMO 9 of 9 TENKAN/KIJUN CROSSES 2 Five lines, one question: is price in balance or far from it?
Today's cloud is computed on today's data but drawn 26 periods ahead: it does not predict — it lays out the map.
Hover or tap the highlighted points

Reading it in practice

  1. Position relative to the cloud first — above the Kumo: bullish context; below: bearish; inside: a market in transition, signals suspended. It is the system's regime filter, the Western SMA 200's equivalent but with thickness.
  2. Cloud thickness is information — a thick Kumo = equilibrium defended by a long range: crossing it takes force; a thin Kumo = fragile, easy to pierce. The twist (Span A crossing Span B) marks where the future map changes colour.
  3. Tenkan/Kijun cross — the Ichimoku version of the average crossover, with the same hierarchy: worth more in the direction of the context (above the cloud for longs), less against it.
  4. Kijun as the reversion reference — price stretching too far from the Kijun tends to return to it (equilibrium attracts): many Japanese traders use it as the base for stops and reversion targets.

Limits and traps

Warning — Five lines do not mean five confirmations: they are the same price seen from five angles. An "all-green" Ichimoku panel is one vote repeated, not a unanimous assembly — the collinearity problem of every single-source system.

  • The 9/26/52 parameters come from the 1930s Japanese exchange calendar (six-day weeks): they work by shared convention, not by any property of the numbers.
  • On young markets or short timeframes the projected cloud covers half the chart and keeps changing: the system pays off on medium-to-long horizons.
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