A single candle where open equals close. With no real body, the cross-shaped glyph records a session that ended where it began — a draw between buyers and sellers, drawn in silence.
The Doji is a single candle in which the open and the close are essentially the same price. The body collapses into a thin line, leaving a cross-shaped figure that gave the formation its other common name: the cross. It is among the oldest and most important single-candle signals in Japanese candlestick analysis.
The session ends where it began. However turbulent the intraday battle may have been, by the close everything has been undone — the market returns to its starting point. The Doji records that draw.
How to Read
OANDA:USDJPY
The body is absent or nearly so. Only the shadows remain, and their length and placement determine the variant.
| Variant | Shape | Primary meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Standard Doji | Roughly equal upper and lower shadows | Balance, indecision |
| Long-legged Doji | Long shadows on both sides | A wide intraday range that resolved to nothing — extreme indecision |
| Dragonfly Doji | Long lower shadow, no upper shadow | Price was driven down hard, then bought back. Bullish at bottoms |
| Gravestone Doji | Long upper shadow, no lower shadow | Price was driven up hard, then sold off. Bearish at tops |
| Four-Price Doji | Open, high, low, and close are identical | Total stillness — market disengagement |
The shape of the shadows changes the story. A Dragonfly and a Gravestone are both bodiless, yet they say opposite things.
A Doji's meaning depends entirely on its location.
The correct reading is never "a Doji means reversal," but rather: "a Doji at the end of a trend invites suspicion of reversal."
A Doji alone is not an entry signal. The standard approach is to wait for the next candle to confirm.
Dragonfly and Gravestone Dojis carry a directional bias of their own and require somewhat less follow-through confirmation. Still, never trade a single candle in isolation.
Related Studies
Candlestick Anatomy
Body and wick. Two elements that draw market psychology. Marubozu, spinning tops, hammers, shooting stars, doji — what the basic forms say about the battle within.
Evening Star
A three-candle reversal pattern appearing at the top of uptrends. One of the most reliable bearish reversal signals in candlestick analysis.