A doji is a candle whose open and close are effectively equal, leaving a cross-like shape. It marks indecision — buyers and sellers finishing the session where they started. On its own it is information about the current bar, not a directional signal.
- 1Indecision after a directional run
No instance passed the hard criteria in the last 7 days. This one is 10 days old and is dated as such rather than re-presented as current.
Run this doji candlestick read yourselfWhat the engine actually checks
“Looks like one” is not a rule. Detection requires every hard criterion and scores the confluences — fail a hard criterion and it is not this setup, it is a hope with a nickname.
Hard criteria — all required
- ▪Body no more than 5% of the total candle range.
- ▪A meaningful total range — a doji inside a dead session is noise, not indecision.
Confluences — weighted, not required
- ▫Formation after a sustained directional move rather than inside a range.
- ▫Formation at a tested level.
- ▫Wick asymmetry: dragonfly (lower wick) and gravestone (upper wick) carry directional lean; long-legged carries none.
Trading it
- 1Where you are wrongThere is nothing to invalidate, because a doji is not a trade. The level it forms at is what carries a stop — treating the candle itself as a setup is the fundamental misuse of it, and the reason it appears on this page at all is that so many people do.
- 2EntryA doji is a reason to wait for the next candle, not a reason to act. The tradeable event is the resolution: a close beyond the doji's range in either direction, with the opposite extreme as the invalidation.
- 3ObjectiveDetermined by whatever structure the resolution breaks toward, not by the doji. The candle contributes context and nothing else, and any target derived from its dimensions is invented.
Worked example — real numbers
entry on the resolution above the doji range, stop below it, target at the prior high. A valid formation offering under about 1.5R is still a valid formation and still not worth taking — valid and worth it are different questions.
Size this trade against your account →The scoreboard
Resolution by grade, market and timeframe — because a single blended number would let strong contexts carry weak ones, which is how every invented “success rate” in this category is constructed.
| Grade | Market | Timeframe | Resolution | Sample |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | Equities | 4H | collecting | no resolved sample yet |
| A | Equities | 1D | collecting | no resolved sample yet |
| A | Indices | 4H | collecting | no resolved sample yet |
| A | Indices | 1D | collecting | no resolved sample yet |
| A | FX | 4H | collecting | no resolved sample yet |
| A | FX | 1D | collecting | no resolved sample yet |
| B | Equities | 4H | collecting | no resolved sample yet |
| B | Equities | 1D | collecting | no resolved sample yet |
| B | Indices | 4H | collecting | no resolved sample yet |
| B | Indices | 1D | collecting | no resolved sample yet |
| B | FX | 4H | collecting | no resolved sample yet |
| B | FX | 1D | collecting | no resolved sample yet |
| C | Equities | 4H | collecting | no resolved sample yet |
| C | Equities | 1D | collecting | no resolved sample yet |
| C | Indices | 4H | collecting | no resolved sample yet |
| C | Indices | 1D | collecting | no resolved sample yet |
| C | FX | 4H | collecting | no resolved sample yet |
| C | FX | 1D | collecting | no resolved sample yet |
Where this traps people
Drop your chart and the engine checks it against the same hard criteria listed above — the ones it uses on every scan. First read is free and needs no account.
Questions traders actually ask
- What does a doji candlestick mean?
- That the session opened and closed at effectively the same price — buyers and sellers finished level. It signals indecision. It does not signal direction, and treating it as a reversal call is the most common misuse of any candlestick.
- What is the difference between a dragonfly and gravestone doji?
- A dragonfly has a long lower wick and no upper one — selling rejected, mildly bullish. A gravestone is the reverse — buying rejected, mildly bearish. A long-legged doji has wicks both ways and carries no lean at all.
- Is a doji bullish or bearish?
- Neither by itself. Its meaning comes from what preceded it and what level it formed at. After an extended run at a tested level it is meaningful context; in the middle of a range it is a candle that happened to close where it opened.
- How do you trade a doji?
- You do not trade the doji — you trade its resolution. Wait for a close beyond the candle's range and use the opposite extreme as invalidation. The candle tells you a decision is pending, not which way it goes.
- Do dojis need to be perfectly equal?
- No. A body within about 5% of the total range qualifies. Requiring exact equality would make the pattern almost nonexistent on most instruments, especially in decimal-priced markets.
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