What Is a Doji

A candle with no body

A doji is a candle whose open and close are the same price, or so close that there is no body to see — only a line across where the body would be. On 18 June 2025 the euro against the dollar opened at 1.14805, rose 49 pips — a pip being the fourth decimal place — fell 20 pips below the open, and closed at 1.14805 exactly. Seventy pips of travel, none of it kept. The candle says the period went somewhere and came all the way back, and that is what it says.

Four shapes

A doji takes four shapes, named for where the cross sits in the range. When the cross is in the middle, the period went both ways about equally. When it sits at the bottom, with a long wick above, the period went up and came all the way back — the gravestone, which is what 18 June was. When it sits at the top with a long wick below, the period went down and came back — the dragonfly. When the wicks are long both ways, the long-legged doji. In all four the open and the close are the same; only the wicks differ.

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