Candlestick Charting For Dummies®

The Bullish Dragonfly Doji

The doji is a type of candlestick pattern with variations and is created when the open and close are equal, so there’s essentially no stick on the candlestick. Dojis are almost all wick. Take a look at Figure 5-8, which includes a few different types of dojis. As you can see, a doji looks more like a cross or a t than a pattern on a candlestick chart.

Figure 5-8: A variety of dojis.

Loosely translated, doji means blunder or mistake. It’s said that the pattern got its name because a whole day’s worth of trading just to end up back at the starting point seems like a goof, but price action isn’t ever a mistake, so I’m not crazy about that explanation.

Although there are several varieties of dojis, you can count on them all to be fairly frustrating for traders. For a doji to be created, a day must begin and end with the same price, so a whole lot of trading takes place, but when it’s all said and done, the price is right back where it started. Dojis are differentiated by the location of the open and close on the wick — where trading begins and ends on a given day.

At first glance, dojis may not seem very exciting, but don’t be fooled. ...