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Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Candlestick Charts For FX Traders

By Tom OReilly

Among the many types of technical analysis available to currency traders, the most popular and the single most useful are undoubtedly candlestick charts. During the 18th. century, they were originally developed in Japan by a prominent trader of commodities who used them to chart the fluctuating price of rice. To this day they are often called Japanese candlestick charts, for this reason. In fact, many of the patterns that they form have Japanese names.

Simple line graphs plotting the price of a commodity at regular intervals in time had been used for centuries, but traders were in need of something that could plot more variables within a two dimensional graph. The bar chart showing the opening, high, low and closing prices of a commodity was useful and helped traders to predict future price movements in a more reliable way than line charts, but candlestick charts were even better.

Charles Dow, founder of the Wall Street Journal and co-founder of the Dow Jones company, introduced them to the American Stock Market at the beginning of the 20th. century. From there they were adapted by the worldwide financial markets.

Candlestick Formation

The chart is made up of a series of 'candlesticks' which typically include different points measuring the differential in prices over a certain period of time, which might be 5 minutes, 15 minutes, or longer. The 'candlesticks' have a chunky body with vertical lines stretching up from the top (the upper shadow or wick) and bottom (the lower shadow or wick).

The top and bottom of the body are the opening and closing prices. The top of the wick is the highest point reached during the time period and the lowest point of the lower wick is the low. The bottom of the body marks the opening price and its top marks the close. If the price fell during the period the prices are the other way around and to show this at a glance the body will be black (or red if colored). If price rose during the period the body will be white (or green or blue if colored).

How To Use Candlestick Charts In FX Trading

A chart showing 5 or 15 minute candles over a period of several hours can provide the forex trader with many patterns on which he can base a system for determining when a trend is developing. For example, when the candle body is black or red and lower than the preceding candles, it indicates that buyers are very bearish. When the candle body is white or green and higher than the preceding candles, it indicates that buyers are very bullish.

In the fast moving forex markets where trading decisions often need to be made in a split second, being able to see these implications at a glance is vital. So for any forex trader, candlestick charts are one of the most useful visual aids. - 23229

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