Introductory4 min2026-05-14Open

Doji

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.

CandlestickDojiIndecisionReversal Signal

Overview

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.

Anatomy

Standard, long-legged, dragonfly, gravestone, and four-price Doji — Doji variants share an essentially bodiless candle, yet the placement of shadows can reverse the meaning entirely.View OANDA:USDJPY live →

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.

Where it appears

A Doji's meaning depends entirely on its location.

At the end of a strong trend — a warning of reversal. For the first time, a market that had been pushing one direction failed to push at all
Inside a range — noise. Indecision layered on indecision says nothing new
Near significant support or resistance — a record of the standoff at that level. The next candle becomes critical
At a round-number or prior-high/low level — evidence that the market paused there deliberately

The correct reading is never "a Doji means reversal," but rather: "a Doji at the end of a trend invites suspicion of reversal."

How to trade it

A Doji alone is not an entry signal. The standard approach is to wait for the next candle to confirm.

A Doji near the top of an uptrend, followed by a bearish breakdown → consider shorts
A Doji near the bottom of a downtrend, followed by a bullish breakout → consider longs
Stops belong outside the Doji's shadow. If price violates the shadow, the pattern is invalidated

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.

Market psychology

✦ Market Psychology

A Doji records the fact that, on this particular session, market opinion split exactly in half.

Trade begins at the opening price. Buyers and sellers clash; price travels up and down. But by the close, every excursion has been cancelled, and the market lands where it started. This is not coincidence — it is the precise equilibrium between the day's bullish conviction and its bearish conviction.

A Doji that follows a long trend carries unusual weight. In an extended uptrend, every prior session had ended with buyers pushing the close above the open. They held a monopoly on the day's narrative. Then comes one session in which sellers showed up in equal force for the first time. The trend's monopoly has been broken; the market records that breach as a small cross.

By contrast, a Doji inside a range tells us little. Indecision in a market that has already been undecided for days is not news. A Doji becomes eloquent only at extremes.

Caveats

Candlestick Anatomy — the grammar of body and shadow, of which the Doji is the limiting case
Evening Star — the pattern's reliability increases when its middle candle is a Doji
Hammer & Hanging Man — the Dragonfly Doji shares the Hammer's psychological signature

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