Released to the public in the 1960s by Japanese journalist Ichimoku Sanjin, it is a type of technical analysis method that is based on Japanese candlestick charts and is used to predict the future price movement of assets. The idea behind the strategy is to use a moving-average based trend method that indicates the future direction price will take. In addition to using price, the Ichimoku cloud strategy also uses time as one of its components. This use of multiple data points is considered to make the strategy more accurate than simply charting price as Japanese candlesticks do.