Ichimoku is roughly translated as ‘one glance’ and is intended as a complete trading system. Developed by Japanese journalist Goichi Hosoda in the 1960s, the aim of Ichimoku is to present the entire picture of long- and short-term price action in a single chart. ‘Cloud’ refers to the appearance of the Senkou A and B indicators (plotted 26 periods ahead of the current period) which indicate overall bullishness or bearishness of the market. Price action above the cloud is bullish, below the cloud is bearish, while within the cloud is uncertain. A green cloud further strengthens a bull signal, or weakens a bear signal, while a red cloud does the opposite.
The weekly chart shows a strong bear trend, with price action below a predominantly red cloud. The latest candle, however, penetrated the lower border of the cloud, indicating a period of uncertainty. Given the overall bearish posture of the chart, price action is likely to resolve to the downside and reversal below the cloud would generate a short signal, especially if confirmed by the fast MA (blue Tenkan) below the slow MA (red Kijun). Recovery above the upper border of the cloud is unlikely, but would signal reversal to an up-trend.
You can find further details on Ichimoku Cloud at Incredible Charts: Ichimoku Cloud and Daily FX: A Walk Through Ichimoku.
