Module 5: Candlestick Patterns · Lesson 29/40
9 min 55 XP
Start with the body. A marubozu has almost no wicks — price opened, ran one way all session, and closed at the extreme. It screams total control and often signals continuation. A big body with small wicks is a strong, decisive move. A spinning top is a tiny body with wicks on both sides: buyers and sellers fought to a draw. Indecision after a long trend is the market catching its breath, and sometimes the first hint of a turn.
A doji is the extreme spinning top: open and close are virtually equal, so the body is a thin line. It means perfect balance. Where its wicks sit changes the message. A dragonfly doji (long lower wick, no upper) shows sellers pushed down hard and were fully rejected — bullish at a support. A gravestone doji (long upper wick, no lower) shows buyers pushed up and were rejected — bearish at a resistance. A plain doji is just a pause; the wicked ones are reversal hints at the right address.
These four share a shape — a small body and one long wick — but their meaning flips with their address. A hammer (long lower wick, after a fall, at support) is bullish: sellers were rejected. A hanging man is the same shape after a rally — a warning. A shooting star (long upper wick, after a rally, at resistance) is bearish: buyers were rejected. An inverted hammer is that shape after a fall — a bullish hint. Location is everything: the wick tells you who failed, the trend before it tells you whether that matters.