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 6th, 7:59:59 PMPARDNew 5 minute high.more
5 minute lowNov 6th, 7:59:51 PMQLDNew 5 minute low.more
10 minute highNov 6th, 7:59:59 PMPARDNew 10 minute high.more
10 minute lowNov 6th, 7:59:51 PMQLDNew 10 minute low.more
15 minute highNov 6th, 7:59:59 PMPARDNew 15 minute high.more
15 minute lowNov 6th, 7:59:51 PMQLDNew 15 minute low.more
30 minute highNov 6th, 7:59:59 PMPARDNew 30 minute high.more
30 minute lowNov 6th, 7:59:46 PMWFMINew 30 minute low.more
60 minute highNov 6th, 7:59:59 PMPARDNew 60 minute high.more
60 minute lowNov 6th, 7:59:54 PMTZANew 60 minute low.more
5 minute DojiNov 6th, 4:00:00 PMSNPS5 minute Dojimore
10 minute DojiNov 6th, 4:00:00 PMLWSN10 minute Dojimore
15 minute DojiNov 6th, 4:00:00 PMJFR15 minute Long-Legged Dojimore
30 minute DojiNov 6th, 4:00:00 PMMIPS30 minute Dojimore
5 minute hammerNov 6th, 4:00:00 PMWPIHammermore
10 minute hammerNov 6th, 4:00:00 PMSHOOHammermore
15 minute hammerNov 6th, 4:00:00 PMPOMHammermore
30 minute hammerNov 6th, 4:00:01 PMWN.CATHammermore
5 minute hanging manNov 6th, 4:00:00 PM$MXZ.XHanging Manmore
10 minute hanging manNov 6th, 4:00:00 PMMXIHanging Manmore
15 minute hanging manNov 6th, 4:00:00 PMXOPHanging Manmore
30 minute hanging manNov 6th, 4:00:00 PMCFPHanging Manmore
5 minute bullish engulfingNov 6th, 4:00:00 PMCPWRBullish Engulfingmore
10 minute bullish engulfingNov 6th, 4:00:00 PMTMXBullish Engulfingmore
15 minute bullish engulfingNov 6th, 4:00:00 PMTSRABullish Engulfingmore
30 minute bullish engulfingNov 6th, 4:00:00 PMTRGLBullish Engulfingmore
5 minute bearish engulfingNov 6th, 4:00:00 PMTRMKBearish Engulfingmore
10 minute bearish engulfingNov 6th, 4:00:00 PMVGZBearish Engulfingmore
15 minute bearish engulfingNov 6th, 4:00:00 PMINZBearish Engulfingmore
30 minute bearish engulfingNov 6th, 4:00:00 PMASFBearish Engulfingmore
5 minute piercing patternNov 6th, 4:00:00 PMFXCPiercing Patternmore
10 minute piercing patternNov 6th, 4:00:00 PMSFLYPiercing Patternmore
15 minute piercing patternNov 6th, 4:00:00 PMSYNOPiercing Patternmore
30 minute piercing patternNov 6th, 4:00:00 PMACMRPiercing Patternmore
5 minute dark cloud coverNov 6th, 4:00:00 PMZMHDark Cloud Covermore
10 minute dark cloud coverNov 6th, 4:00:01 PMBAM.A.CATDark Cloud Covermore
15 minute dark cloud coverNov 6th, 4:00:00 PMFDSDark Cloud Covermore
30 minute dark cloud coverNov 6th, 4:00:00 PMRHIDark Cloud Covermore
5 minute bottoming tailNov 6th, 4:00:00 PMSHOOBottoming Tailmore
10 minute bottoming tailNov 6th, 4:00:00 PMSHOOBottoming Tailmore
15 minute bottoming tailNov 6th, 4:00:00 PMSHOOBottoming Tailmore
30 minute bottoming tailNov 6th, 4:00:00 PMMOTBottoming Tailmore
5 minute topping tailNov 6th, 4:00:00 PMSATSTopping Tailmore
10 minute topping tailNov 6th, 4:00:00 PMPPGTopping Tailmore
15 minute topping tailNov 6th, 4:00:00 PMGISTopping Tailmore
30 minute topping tailNov 6th, 4:00:00 PMNNITopping Tailmore
5 minute narrow range buy barNov 6th, 4:00:00 PMSWKNarrow Range Buy Barmore
10 minute narrow range buy barNov 6th, 4:00:00 PMMJNNarrow Range Buy Barmore
15 minute narrow range buy barNov 6th, 3:45:00 PMCLDANarrow Range Buy Barmore
30 minute narrow range buy barNov 6th, 3:30:00 PMNPPNarrow Range Buy Barmore
5 minute narrow range sell barNov 6th, 4:00:00 PMFOENarrow Range Sell Barmore
10 minute narrow range sell barNov 6th, 3:40:00 PMAKRXNarrow Range Sell Barmore
15 minute narrow range sell barNov 6th, 3:30:00 PMSKMNarrow Range Sell Barmore
30 minute narrow range sell barNov 6th, 4:00:00 PMWHINarrow Range Sell Barmore

See Also

Body, Print, Statistical Analysis, Wick