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Trend following
Which conditions does Ichimoku need at the same time before it counts as a trend?
Ichimoku
What it bets
Bulls and bears agree only when the conversion line, the base line, the cloud, and the lagging line all stand on the same side.
How the rule is written
Goichi Hosoda's system. The usual periods are 9, 26, and 52. A complete long alignment is roughly this: price above the cloud, the conversion line above the base line, and the lagging line above the price it lines up with. The cloud value on the current bar comes from an earlier calculation, so a backtest can use it. The stretch drawn out to the right, which price has not reached yet, is a projection. It cannot be treated as a price that has already printed.
When it fails
Entering because price only touches one side of the cloud is not the whole system. Before the cloud thickens, price weaves back and forth inside it.
Do not confuse it with
A moving-average cross has no cloud and no forward projection. Treating Ichimoku as one average misses the constraint that actually defines it.