FAP Turbo

Make Over 90% Winning Trades Now!

Sunday, June 21, 2009

Candlestick Charts For Currency Traders

By Tom OReilly

Among the many types of technical analysis available to forex traders, the single most useful and popular are probably candlestick charts. These were originally developed in Japan during the 18th century by a prominent commodity trader who used them to chart the fluctuations in the price of rice. For this reason they are often known as Japanese candlestick charts, and many of the patterns that they form have Japanese names.

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

Charles Dow introduced them to the American stock market at the beginning of the 20th. century and from there to the worldwide financial markets. Co-founder of the Dow Jones company, Dow was the founder of the Wall Street Journal.

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 of the wick is the highest point reached during the time period and the lowest point of the lower wick is the low. The top and bottom of the body are the opening and closing prices. If price rose during the period the body will be white (or green or blue if colored). 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).

Using Candlesticks in Charts In Currency 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 white or green and higher than the preceding candles, it indicates that buyers are very bullish. When it is black or red and lower than the preceding candles, it indicates that buyers are very bearish.

Candlestick charts are one of the most useful visual aids for any fx trader. Being able to see implications at a glance is vital in the fast moving currency markets where trading decisions often need to be made in a split second. - 23162

About the Author:

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]

<< Home