Hi newspreadbetter,
I'm not entirely clear what you're asking here? You appear to be comparing candlesticks with MACD as some sort of either/or proposition. Candlesticks, like bar charts, are merely a graphic representation of the movement of price over the course of a specific time period, be it a minute, hour or day etc. MACD is a technical analysis indicator that uses the same data used to plot the candlestick or bar chart (principally the open, high, low and close) to create it's moving average lines and histogram.
Many traders will argue - with good reason - that you'd do better to ignore technical indicators (of which MACD is just one of many hundreds) and focus purely on price itself. You can do that in a variety of ways. If you're a visual person, than candlesticks is an option favoured by many. I prefer Renko charts, others prefer Point & Figure charts. You could par it right down to a humble line chart if you wanted. If you're good with numbers, you can dispense with charts altogether and just look at time and sales, although this will probably only be of interest if you intend to day trade very short time frames.
All the charts above show the same thing - how price has moved over time. Each chart may look different, but the message conveyed is essentially the same. Which one you choose to use is down to you. I'm sorry to say that none of them is more reliable - or profitable - than the other. It's true that PnF charts highlight certain patters that aren't so obvious in candlestick chart and visa versa but, again, this just comes down to you and what you're looking for and what you want the chart to do.
I hope that clarifies a few things for you!
Tim.
