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 highSep 3rd, 7:59:57 PMJBLNew 5 minute high.more
5 minute lowSep 3rd, 7:59:59 PMDISNew 5 minute low.more
10 minute highSep 3rd, 7:59:57 PMJBLNew 10 minute high.more
10 minute lowSep 3rd, 7:59:58 PMSANew 10 minute low.more
15 minute highSep 3rd, 7:59:57 PMJBLNew 15 minute high.more
15 minute lowSep 3rd, 7:59:58 PMSANew 15 minute low.more
30 minute highSep 3rd, 7:59:57 PMJBLNew 30 minute high.more
30 minute lowSep 3rd, 7:59:58 PMSANew 30 minute low.more
60 minute highSep 3rd, 7:59:57 PMJBLNew 60 minute high.more
60 minute lowSep 3rd, 7:59:58 PMSANew 60 minute low.more
5 minute DojiSep 3rd, 4:00:00 PMFVI.CAT5 minute Gravestone Dojimore
10 minute DojiSep 3rd, 4:00:00 PMSMF.CAT10 minute Dojimore
15 minute DojiSep 3rd, 4:00:00 PMSMF.CAT15 minute Dojimore
30 minute DojiSep 3rd, 4:00:00 PMEVG.CAV30 minute Dragonfly Dojimore
5 minute hammerSep 3rd, 4:00:00 PMVXXHammermore
10 minute hammerSep 3rd, 4:00:00 PMEXPRHammermore
15 minute hammerSep 3rd, 4:00:00 PMYLO.UN.CATHammermore
30 minute hammerSep 3rd, 4:00:00 PMYLO.UN.CATHammermore
5 minute hanging manSep 3rd, 4:00:00 PMORAHanging Manmore
10 minute hanging manSep 3rd, 4:00:00 PMHNIHanging Manmore
15 minute hanging manSep 3rd, 4:00:00 PMHPIHanging Manmore
30 minute hanging manSep 3rd, 4:00:00 PMOCNFHanging Manmore
5 minute bullish engulfingSep 3rd, 4:00:00 PMSNABullish Engulfingmore
10 minute bullish engulfingSep 3rd, 4:00:00 PMDREBullish Engulfingmore
15 minute bullish engulfingSep 3rd, 4:00:00 PMLFCBullish Engulfingmore
30 minute bullish engulfingSep 3rd, 4:00:00 PMSC.CATBullish Engulfingmore
5 minute bearish engulfingSep 3rd, 4:00:00 PMERYBearish Engulfingmore
10 minute bearish engulfingSep 3rd, 4:00:00 PMMEIBearish Engulfingmore
15 minute bearish engulfingSep 3rd, 4:00:00 PMPENNBearish Engulfingmore
30 minute bearish engulfingSep 3rd, 4:00:00 PMPGF.UN.CATBearish Engulfingmore
5 minute piercing patternSep 3rd, 4:00:00 PMWRCPiercing Patternmore
10 minute piercing patternSep 3rd, 4:00:00 PMWFTPiercing Patternmore
15 minute piercing patternSep 3rd, 4:00:00 PMSRTYPiercing Patternmore
30 minute piercing patternSep 3rd, 3:30:00 PMSWMPiercing Patternmore
5 minute dark cloud coverSep 3rd, 4:00:00 PMSAFMDark Cloud Covermore
10 minute dark cloud coverSep 3rd, 4:00:00 PMNSDark Cloud Covermore
15 minute dark cloud coverSep 3rd, 4:00:00 PMUWMDark Cloud Covermore
30 minute dark cloud coverSep 3rd, 4:00:00 PMCUBDark Cloud Covermore
5 minute bottoming tailSep 3rd, 4:00:00 PMDBCBottoming Tailmore
10 minute bottoming tailSep 3rd, 4:00:00 PMX.CATBottoming Tailmore
15 minute bottoming tailSep 3rd, 4:00:00 PMBKSBottoming Tailmore
30 minute bottoming tailSep 3rd, 4:00:00 PMGYMBBottoming Tailmore
5 minute topping tailSep 3rd, 4:00:00 PMCRZOTopping Tailmore
10 minute topping tailSep 3rd, 4:00:00 PMKRETopping Tailmore
15 minute topping tailSep 3rd, 4:00:00 PMPOW.CATTopping Tailmore
30 minute topping tailSep 3rd, 4:00:00 PMHSE.CATTopping Tailmore
5 minute narrow range buy barSep 3rd, 3:55:00 PMAWKNarrow Range Buy Barmore
10 minute narrow range buy barSep 3rd, 4:00:00 PMUNMNarrow Range Buy Barmore
15 minute narrow range buy barSep 3rd, 3:45:00 PMCPVNarrow Range Buy Barmore
30 minute narrow range buy barSep 3rd, 3:30:00 PMCPENarrow Range Buy Barmore
5 minute narrow range sell barSep 3rd, 3:50:00 PMNGASNarrow Range Sell Barmore
10 minute narrow range sell barSep 3rd, 3:50:00 PMTAMNarrow Range Sell Barmore
15 minute narrow range sell barSep 3rd, 3:45:00 PMETGNarrow Range Sell Barmore
30 minute narrow range sell barSep 3rd, 3:30:00 PMVCSHNarrow Range Sell Barmore

See Also

Body, Print, Statistical Analysis, Wick