In the 1600s, the Japanese developed a method of technical analysis to analyze the price of rice contracts. This technique is called candlestick charting. Steven Nison is credited with popularizing candlestick charting and has become recognized as the leading expert on their interpretation.
Candlestick charts display the open, high, low, and closing prices in a format similar to a modern-day bar-chart, but in a manner that extenuates the relationship between the opening and closing prices. Candlestick charts are simply a new way of looking at prices, they don't involve any calculations.
Each candlestick represents one period (e.g., day) of data. Figure 45 displays the elements of a candle.
Interpretation
I have met investors who are attracted to candlestick charts by their mystique--maybe they are the "long forgotten Asian secret" to investment analysis. Other investors are turned-off by this mystique--they are only charts, right? Regardless of your feelings about the heritage of candlestick charting, I strongly encourage you to explore their use. Candlestick charts dramatically illustrate changes in the underlying supply/demand lines.
Because candlesticks display the relationship between the open, high, low, and closing prices, they cannot be displayed on securities that only have closing prices, nor were they intended to be displayed on securities that lack opening prices. If you want to display a candlestick chart on a security that does not have opening prices, I suggest that you use the previous day's closing prices in place of opening prices. This technique can create candlestick lines and patterns that are unusual, but valid.
The interpretation of candlestick charts is based primarily on patterns. The most popular patterns are explained below.
