Candlestick Charts

A candlestick chart is a style of bar-chart used primarily to describe price movements of a security, derivative, or currency over time.

It is a combination of a line-chart and a bar-chart, in that each bar represents the range of price movement over a given time interval. It is most often used in technical analysis of equity and currency price patterns. They appear superficially similar to error bars, but are unrelated.

Candlesticks are usually composed of the body (black or white), and an upper and a lower shadow (wick): the area between the open and the close is called the real body, price excursions above and below the real body are called shadows. The wick illustrates the highest and lowest traded prices of a security during the time interval represented. The body illustrates the opening and closing trades. If the security closed higher than it opened, the body is white or unfilled, with the opening price at the bottom of the body and the closing price at the top. If the security closed lower than it opened, the body is black, with the opening price at the top and the closing price at the bottom. A candlestick need not have either a body or a wick.

To better highlight price movements, modern Candlestick Charts (especially those displayed digitally) often replace the black or white of the candlestick body with colors such as red (for a lower closing) and blue or green (for a higher closing).

How to read Candlestick Charts?

Books at Amazon.com

Review
“This book is a handy reference for beginners to advanced Technical Analysts. It contains statistical data for the performance of over 100 Candlestick patterns in both bull and bear markets, offers identification guidelines, and explores the performance of tall versus short candles and shadows. Of particular interest are the chapters which delve into important discoveries and those which explain each Table entry in detail and discuss the methodologies behind them. A useful addition it the visual index. Overall the easy to read makes this book a welcome addition to most Technical Analysis bookcases.”
—IFTA Journal

Books Description
Following in the footsteps of author Thomas Bulkowski’s bestselling Encyclopedia of Chart Patterns—and structured in the same way—this easy-to-read and -use resource takes an in-depth look at 103 candlestick formations, from identification guidelines and statistical analysis of their behavior to detailed trading tactics. Encyclopedia of Candlestick Charts al