Candlestick chart (stock)

Candlestick chart (Stock)

A candlestick chart shows the price changes over time for stocks, bonds, currencies, commodities, and other types of financial instruments. Each bar corresponds to a time unit, for example, one day, hour, or minute. This chart type is frequently used in the technical analysis of stocks and trends.

The following table shows the main elements of a candlestick.

Image Item Explanation
Body

The region between the opening and closing prices (see below) for the time unit represented. In a chart, the color of the body signalizes whether the closing price is higher or lower than the opening price.

In this example, the closing price is higher than the opening price.
Low The lowest price traded in the time unit represented.
Open The price at the beginning of the time unit represented.
Close The price at the end of the time unit represented.
High The highest price traded in the time unit represented.

When to use

Candlestick charts can help you detect, predict, and monitor the trends of the stock prices, assisting you in the stock buying or selling decisions. For example, these charts can be used in the following ways:

  • Compare the opening and closing price (or the low and high price) for single candlesticks. A closing price that is higher than the opening price indicates a high buying pressure for the respective stock. The high buying pressure may be a sign of significant price increases in the future. A closing price that is close to the opening price indicates price consolidation.
  • Analyze individual candlesticks or groups of candlesticks to detect so-called patterns. These patterns may reveal the buyers' and sellers' psychology at a certain moment and can help you predict future price evolutions.

Data requirements

To build this chart, define the required and optional data fields as follows:

  • Close – One measure
  • Open – One measure
  • High – One measure
  • Low – One measure
  • Dimension – One dimension that contains time-related data
  • Tooltip – (Optional) One or more measures

Use case

The following chart shows the daily evolution of a company's stock price over a period. The candlesticks for which the closing price is higher than the opening price are colored in blue. The candlesticks for which the closing price is lower than the opening price are colored in orange.

References

For details on how to customize your visualization, see Visualization settings.

For a whole list of visualizations, see the following topics: