Candlestick Charting For Dummies®

Introduction

Years ago, when I was playing around with my first quote machine on the floor of one of the Chicago exchanges, I came across the candlestick charting function. My personal charting software, which I ran on a DOS-based PC with no hard drive (yikes!), had no such function. When the candlestick chart popped up on the screen, I was fascinated by what came up, and my curiosity was piqued. The charting system looked useful and promising, but I didn’t know much about it. It wasn’t like I could just run an Internet search on candlestick charts to find out more, so I proceeded to the exchange library to find out about candlesticks.

The exchange library was stocked with just about every investment and trading related book in and out of print, but I was surprised to find very little information on my newly discovered method of charting prices. I could find only one book about candlestick charting, along with a couple of articles. And the articles were about the book! Not exactly what I’d call a wealth of information.

Fast forward to today. Candlestick charting is now far more of a mainstream trading tool than it was when I first saw it flash up on the screen of that primitive exchange floor computer. In fact, I recently noticed that the charts used in the Wall Street Journal are now candlestick charts. But although candlestick charts are more common in the financial world, not very many traders take full advantage of the vast potential of candlesticks.

I’m hoping to do my part ...