Doji candle: what it means and how to spot one
A doji candle opens and closes at almost the same price. See what it shows, its four types, how it differs from a spinning top, and find one on a chart.
A doji is a candle whose open and close are almost the same price, so its body is a thin line. On this site: the body is no bigger than 10% of the candle's full high-to-low range. It shows indecision: neither buyers nor sellers won the period. On its own it does not predict a direction.
Practice: tap the doji
How to identify it (the exact rules)
These are the rules this site uses to build and grade every chart. Traders do not all use the same numbers; ours are published so you can check every answer (see the methodology).
- Doji: body at most 10% of the candle's high-to-low range.
- The wicks can be any length. A doji is defined by its shape alone: no trend condition.
- Dragonfly and gravestone doji: the short wick is at most 10% of the range.
- Dragonfly and gravestone doji: the long wick is at least 60% of the range.
What a doji shows
Every candle tells you where the period opened, how far price traveled up and down, and where it closed. A doji is the period where all that travel ended back at the start. Buyers may have pushed price up. Sellers may have pushed it down. By the close, neither side kept any ground.
Think of it as a tug of war that ends with the rope in the same spot. The length of the wicks tells you how hard both sides pulled. A doji with tiny wicks is a quiet day. A doji with long wicks is a loud day that still ended in a draw.
In the chart above, one candle is the doji. Look for the body that is closer to a line than a box: the candles around it have real bodies, so it stands out once you compare the bodies, not the wicks.
The four types of doji
| Type | Shape | What happened during the period |
|---|---|---|
| Standard doji | Thin body near the middle, short wicks both sides | Little movement, a quiet draw |
| Long-legged doji | Very long wicks on both sides | Big swings both ways, then back to the open |
| Dragonfly doji | Long lower wick, little or no upper wick | Sellers drove price down, buyers lifted it back to the open |
| Gravestone doji | Long upper wick, little or no lower wick | Buyers drove price up, sellers pushed it back to the open |
All four pass the same rule here: the body is at most 10% of the range. The type only describes where the wicks sit.
Most often confused with: the spinning top
A spinning top also has a small body and wicks on both sides, so the two get mixed up all the time. The difference is the body size. A doji's body is so thin it is almost a line. A spinning top has a visible body, often a quarter or a third of the range, and its open and close are clearly apart.
Both say the period was undecided. The doji says it more strongly, because the close landed right on the open. If you have to squint to decide whether the body is a line or a box, measure it: on this site, above 10% of the range it is not a doji.
What a doji does not tell you
- Direction. A doji is a draw. It does not say who wins the next period.
- That a trend is over. Trends often pause on a doji and then carry on in the same direction.
- How important it is. A doji in the middle of a sideways range happens constantly and says very little. A doji after a long run, or at a level price has turned from before, deserves a closer look.
- Anything about volume. A doji on a thin, quiet session means less than one on a busy session.
How reliable is it?
There is no reliable win rate for the doji, and you should be wary of any page that quotes one. Researchers have tested whether candlestick strategies create value for investors (for example Marshall, Young and Rose, 2006, in the sources); results depend on the market, the period and trading costs, and no pattern comes with a dependable success rate. The doji is best read as a description of what just happened, not a forecast.
Where the idea is proven wrong
The doji's own logic is simple: the market was undecided. That reading stays true only while price keeps hesitating. If the next candles move strongly away and keep going in the old direction, the pause is over and the doji was only a breather. For a doji after a rise, a close above the doji's high says buyers were not losing control after all. After a fall, a close below the doji's low says the same about sellers.
Frequently asked questions
Is a doji bullish or bearish?
Neither on its own. A doji shows a draw between buyers and sellers. Its meaning depends on where it appears. After a long rise it can mean buyers are losing momentum. After a long fall it can mean sellers are. In the middle of a sideways range it usually means very little.
How small must the body of a doji be?
There is no single official number, and books disagree. This site uses a body of at most 10% of the candle's high-to-low range, and every exercise chart on the site is checked against that rule. Publishing the number lets you check our answers yourself.
What is the difference between a doji and a spinning top?
Both have small bodies and wicks on both sides. A doji's body is almost a line because the open and close are nearly equal. A spinning top has a clearly visible body. Both show indecision, but the doji shows a closer draw.
What does a doji mean after a long uptrend?
It means buyers, who had been closing each period higher, failed to do so this time. That is a sign of hesitation, not proof of a top. Many uptrends pause on a doji and continue. Look at what the next candles do before reading more into it.