Spinning Tops and Long Bodies

Spinning Tops

A spinning top candlestick has a short real body, which can be either white or black, and long upper and lower wicks or shadows. In a similar way to the idea of the Doji, these can often represent indecision, and may be interpreted as a trend losing steam. When deciding if the body is particularly short, you should compare it to adjacent candlesticks. If all the trading has been with relatively short bodies, then the spinning top must be much shorter.

An extreme spinning top, with long shadows both above and below is called a high wave candle. This is a more significant indicator of indecision, as both buyers and sellers have explored a large price range during the trading, only to settle back near the starting point. It’s a good indication of a confused market, and a confused market is open to changing direction.

Long Bodies

As you may guess from the foregoing, when a candle has a long body then it is considered to be a strong indication of the market. A long white body shows strong bullish interest, while the long black body is definitely bearish. When the body is the whole candlestick, with no shadows above or below, then it is called a Marubozu.

Once again, when deciding whether a body is long or not you should compare the candle body to the surrounding candles. To qualify as long, you should look for two or three times the length of the previous bodies. The long body is particularly significant if it pushes through an established support or resistance line.

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