Heikin-Ashi candlesticks are an effective way to identify trending periods and potential reversal points when used in conjunction with the 50 Period EMA.
The resulting candlesticks filter out noise in an effort to better capture the trend, and are not used like normal candlesticks. Dozens of bullish or bearish reversal patterns consisting of 1-3 candlesticks will not be found in a Heikin-Ashi chart.
Take a look at Silver for example, and you will see the strong upward bias that we are currently exhibiting.