Candlestick


A candlestick is a traditional way of representing prices on a graph.  Each candlestick is represents all of the price action during a specified time period.  Each candlestick contains exactly four pieces of data, the prices of the first print, the last print, the highest print, and the lowest print inside of the candle.

Candlesticks were invented many years ago by Japanese rice trades to track the rice market.  They are now popular for tracking stock prices because they are so easy to compute and use.  We generally prefer statistical analysis to candlesticks because candlesticks leave out too much data.  Candlesticks are particularly misleading on intra-day charts.

The biggest problem with candlesticks is that a single, small print can change the shape of the candle.  A single print which is much higher or lower than the rest of the prints will make the biggest change to the candle.  The closing price of a candle comes from the last print before the candle ends.  For intra-day charts, these times are completely arbitrary; you almost randomly choose one print to highlight.  What if a large print happens a second before a small print at a different price?  Which one becomes the closing print of the candle?  The opening price of the candle is even more misleading.  When you make a 15-minute candlestick chart, you choose two adjacent prints to represent the entire 15 minute period.  Why plot two adjacent prints?  You would have a better representation of the data if you selected one print every 7 1/2 minutes.

Our statistical analysis avoids these problems altogether.  No one print stands out in our analysis.  A small print which disagrees with the rest of the data is discarded.  We also offer a limited number of traditional candlestick patterns.

Alert Types

We offer the following alert types which are related to this topic.  Click on the icon for a detailed description of the alert, or click on the "more" link for additional examples of each type of alert.

Type Recent Examples More Examples
Time (NY) Symbol Message
5 minute highNov 20th, 7:59:56 PMDHTNew 5 minute high.more
5 minute lowNov 20th, 7:59:54 PMDRNNew 5 minute low.more
10 minute highNov 20th, 7:59:56 PMDHTNew 10 minute high.more
10 minute lowNov 20th, 7:59:54 PMDRNNew 10 minute low.more
15 minute highNov 20th, 7:59:56 PMDHTNew 15 minute high.more
15 minute lowNov 20th, 7:59:54 PMDRNNew 15 minute low.more
30 minute highNov 20th, 7:59:56 PMDHTNew 30 minute high.more
30 minute lowNov 20th, 7:59:52 PMINTCNew 30 minute low.more
60 minute highNov 20th, 7:59:46 PMINSMNew 60 minute high.more
60 minute lowNov 20th, 7:59:47 PMYHOONew 60 minute low.more
5 minute DojiNov 20th, 4:00:00 PMPHO5 minute Dojimore
10 minute DojiNov 20th, 4:00:00 PMCFN10 minute Dojimore
15 minute DojiNov 20th, 4:00:01 PMWLC.CAV15 minute Dragonfly Dojimore
30 minute DojiNov 20th, 4:00:00 PMCFN30 minute Dojimore
5 minute hammerNov 20th, 4:00:00 PMBRFHammermore
10 minute hammerNov 20th, 4:00:00 PMEQYHammermore
15 minute hammerNov 20th, 4:00:00 PMCXOHammermore
30 minute hammerNov 20th, 4:00:00 PMGSTHammermore
5 minute hanging manNov 20th, 4:00:00 PMNLCHanging Manmore
10 minute hanging manNov 20th, 4:00:00 PMMASIHanging Manmore
15 minute hanging manNov 20th, 4:00:00 PMELXHanging Manmore
30 minute hanging manNov 20th, 4:00:00 PMCBCHanging Manmore
5 minute bullish engulfingNov 20th, 4:00:00 PMIIVIBullish Engulfingmore
10 minute bullish engulfingNov 20th, 4:00:00 PMREVBullish Engulfingmore
15 minute bullish engulfingNov 20th, 4:00:00 PMNYNYBullish Engulfingmore
30 minute bullish engulfingNov 20th, 4:00:00 PMCHIBullish Engulfingmore
5 minute bearish engulfingNov 20th, 4:00:00 PMINTUBearish Engulfingmore
10 minute bearish engulfingNov 20th, 4:00:00 PMCSHBearish Engulfingmore
15 minute bearish engulfingNov 20th, 4:00:01 PMRON.CATBearish Engulfingmore
30 minute bearish engulfingNov 20th, 4:00:01 PMPGD.CATBearish Engulfingmore
5 minute piercing patternNov 20th, 4:00:00 PMTTEKPiercing Patternmore
10 minute piercing patternNov 20th, 4:00:00 PMXRMPiercing Patternmore
15 minute piercing patternNov 20th, 4:00:00 PMTLCRPiercing Patternmore
30 minute piercing patternNov 20th, 4:00:00 PMTGPPiercing Patternmore
5 minute dark cloud coverNov 20th, 4:00:00 PMWGLDark Cloud Covermore
10 minute dark cloud coverNov 20th, 4:00:00 PMFSYSDark Cloud Covermore
15 minute dark cloud coverNov 20th, 4:00:00 PMCBRLDark Cloud Covermore
30 minute dark cloud coverNov 20th, 4:00:00 PMBRFDark Cloud Covermore
5 minute bottoming tailNov 20th, 4:00:00 PMFTIBottoming Tailmore
10 minute bottoming tailNov 20th, 4:00:00 PMBAREBottoming Tailmore
15 minute bottoming tailNov 20th, 4:00:00 PMCDRBottoming Tailmore
30 minute bottoming tailNov 20th, 4:00:00 PMGNVBottoming Tailmore
5 minute topping tailNov 20th, 4:00:00 PMBDKTopping Tailmore
10 minute topping tailNov 20th, 4:00:00 PMAFGTopping Tailmore
15 minute topping tailNov 20th, 4:00:01 PMQUA.CATTopping Tailmore
30 minute topping tailNov 20th, 4:00:00 PMABMTopping Tailmore
5 minute narrow range buy barNov 20th, 3:50:00 PMMASNarrow Range Buy Barmore
10 minute narrow range buy barNov 20th, 4:00:00 PMGFFNarrow Range Buy Barmore
15 minute narrow range buy barNov 20th, 4:00:00 PMNYTNarrow Range Buy Barmore
30 minute narrow range buy barNov 20th, 4:00:00 PMGMP.CATNarrow Range Buy Barmore
5 minute narrow range sell barNov 20th, 4:00:00 PMCLPNarrow Range Sell Barmore
10 minute narrow range sell barNov 20th, 4:00:00 PMSNM.CAVNarrow Range Sell Barmore
15 minute narrow range sell barNov 20th, 4:00:00 PMASTMNarrow Range Sell Barmore
30 minute narrow range sell barNov 20th, 4:00:00 PMHND.CATNarrow Range Sell Barmore

See Also

Body, Print, Statistical Analysis, Wick