What is a doji candle?
In one line: A doji is a candle where the opening and closing prices are the same or nearly the same, so it has a very thin body, often like a cross.
What it looks like
Most candles have a clear body, the thick part between the open and the close. A doji barely has one. Price opened, moved around, and closed right back near where it started.
What's left is a thin line across the middle, with a Wick above, below, or both. It often looks like a plus sign or a cross.
A simple example
An hourly candle on EUR/USD:
- Open: 1.1000
- High: 1.1018
- Low: 1.0983
- Close: 1.1001
Price traveled 35 pips from high to low. But it finished just 1 pip from where it opened. The body is tiny. That's a doji.
In plain words: buyers pushed, sellers pushed, and nobody won the hour.
The main types
| Type | Shape | What it shows |
|---|---|---|
| Standard doji | Small wicks both sides | A quiet tie |
| Long-legged doji | Long wicks both sides | A big fight, still a tie |
| Dragonfly doji | Long lower wick, close near the high | Sellers pushed down, buyers brought it back |
| Gravestone doji | Long upper wick, close near the low | Buyers pushed up, sellers brought it back |
Why it matters
A doji is a moment of balance. After a long run up or down, balance can be the first sign the move is tiring. That's why many traders watch it as a possible Reversal hint.
But a doji only shows a pause. What happens next says more. If the next candle's body closes clearly away from the doji, that's the market picking a side. Our doji guide walks through each type on a chart.
A common mistake
Treating every doji as a turn. In a slow, sideways market, dojis appear all the time and mean nothing. In a strong trend, a single doji is often just a breather. Ask where it formed (at an old turning point, or in the middle of nowhere?) before giving it any weight.
Questions
Is a doji bullish or bearish?
Neither on its own. It's a tie between buyers and sellers. Where it forms, and how the next candle closes, decide what it might mean.
How small does the body have to be to count as a doji?
There's no exact rule. Most traders want the body to be a very small part of the candle's full range, so the open and close look almost equal.
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