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 highMar 17th, 7:59:57 PMPAASNew 5 minute high.more
5 minute lowMar 17th, 7:59:59 PMSDSNew 5 minute low.more
10 minute highMar 17th, 7:59:57 PMPAASNew 10 minute high.more
10 minute lowMar 17th, 7:59:55 PMGGNew 10 minute low.more
15 minute highMar 17th, 7:59:57 PMPAASNew 15 minute high.more
15 minute lowMar 17th, 7:59:55 PMGGNew 15 minute low.more
30 minute highMar 17th, 7:59:57 PMPAASNew 30 minute high.more
30 minute lowMar 17th, 7:59:55 PMGGNew 30 minute low.more
60 minute highMar 17th, 7:59:57 PMPAASNew 60 minute high.more
60 minute lowMar 17th, 7:59:55 PMGGNew 60 minute low.more
5 minute DojiMar 17th, 4:00:00 PMHMC5 minute Dojimore
10 minute DojiMar 17th, 4:00:00 PMVLO10 minute Dojimore
15 minute DojiMar 17th, 4:00:00 PMIWM15 minute Dojimore
30 minute DojiMar 17th, 4:00:00 PMCHRS30 minute Dojimore
5 minute hammerMar 17th, 4:00:00 PMENZNHammermore
10 minute hammerMar 17th, 4:00:00 PMUHSHammermore
15 minute hammerMar 17th, 4:00:00 PMTKRHammermore
30 minute hammerMar 17th, 4:00:00 PMPVAHammermore
5 minute hanging manMar 17th, 4:00:00 PMHCCHanging Manmore
10 minute hanging manMar 17th, 4:00:00 PMAIXGHanging Manmore
15 minute hanging manMar 17th, 4:00:00 PMFTRHanging Manmore
30 minute hanging manMar 17th, 4:00:00 PMMBBHanging Manmore
5 minute bullish engulfingMar 17th, 4:00:00 PMCMPBullish Engulfingmore
10 minute bullish engulfingMar 17th, 4:00:00 PMNAFCBullish Engulfingmore
15 minute bullish engulfingMar 17th, 4:00:00 PM$IRH.XBullish Engulfingmore
30 minute bullish engulfingMar 17th, 4:00:00 PMRSTIBullish Engulfingmore
5 minute bearish engulfingMar 17th, 4:00:00 PMREGNBearish Engulfingmore
10 minute bearish engulfingMar 17th, 4:00:00 PMKOBearish Engulfingmore
15 minute bearish engulfingMar 17th, 4:00:00 PMKNSYBearish Engulfingmore
30 minute bearish engulfingMar 17th, 4:00:00 PMETEBearish Engulfingmore
5 minute piercing patternMar 17th, 4:00:00 PMIRMPiercing Patternmore
10 minute piercing patternMar 17th, 4:00:01 PMCPG.CATPiercing Patternmore
15 minute piercing patternMar 17th, 4:00:00 PMAGUPiercing Patternmore
30 minute piercing patternMar 17th, 4:00:00 PMVIAPiercing Patternmore
5 minute dark cloud coverMar 17th, 4:00:01 PMABX.CATDark Cloud Covermore
10 minute dark cloud coverMar 17th, 4:00:00 PMOMIDark Cloud Covermore
15 minute dark cloud coverMar 17th, 4:00:00 PMOLPDark Cloud Covermore
30 minute dark cloud coverMar 17th, 4:00:00 PMWSBCDark Cloud Covermore
5 minute bottoming tailMar 17th, 4:00:00 PMCNHBottoming Tailmore
10 minute bottoming tailMar 17th, 4:00:00 PMMSBBottoming Tailmore
15 minute bottoming tailMar 17th, 4:00:00 PMMSBBottoming Tailmore
30 minute bottoming tailMar 17th, 4:00:00 PMPKOBottoming Tailmore
5 minute topping tailMar 17th, 4:00:00 PMETRTopping Tailmore
10 minute topping tailMar 17th, 4:00:00 PMFTITopping Tailmore
15 minute topping tailMar 17th, 4:00:00 PMRDYTopping Tailmore
30 minute topping tailMar 17th, 4:00:00 PMTYPTopping Tailmore
5 minute narrow range buy barMar 17th, 4:00:00 PMCOCONarrow Range Buy Barmore
10 minute narrow range buy barMar 17th, 4:00:00 PMKRNarrow Range Buy Barmore
15 minute narrow range buy barMar 17th, 4:00:00 PMCVMNarrow Range Buy Barmore
30 minute narrow range buy barMar 17th, 3:30:00 PMBLTINarrow Range Buy Barmore
5 minute narrow range sell barMar 17th, 3:50:00 PMMAVNarrow Range Sell Barmore
10 minute narrow range sell barMar 17th, 4:00:00 PMCOVNarrow Range Sell Barmore
15 minute narrow range sell barMar 17th, 4:00:00 PMAPFNarrow Range Sell Barmore
30 minute narrow range sell barMar 17th, 4:00:00 PMBSETNarrow Range Sell Barmore

See Also

Body, Print, Statistical Analysis, Wick