You open a Nifty chart after a week of rising prices. Today’s candle is a thin line with tiny marks above and below it. Is the rally over?

That candle is a doji, and it only says that buyers and sellers ended the day at the same level. This guide covers the types of doji candlesticks, so you can tell the dragonfly from the gravestone and know what each one is hinting at. There are five types: standard, long-legged, dragonfly, gravestone, and four price.

A doji is a candle where the opening and closing prices are almost the same, so the body is tiny. The main types are standard, long-legged, dragonfly, and gravestone. It shows indecision, meaning neither buyers nor sellers won the period. A doji is not a buy or sell signal on its own. Check where it forms and what the next candle does.

What Is a Doji Candlestick?
How to Read a Candle First
What Are the Types of Doji Candlesticks?
How to Trade a Doji Step by Step
Practical Example With Numbers
Key Features
Advantages
Risks and Limitations
Tips for Beginners
Doji vs Spinning Top vs Hammer
Common Mistakes
Who Should Use Doji Patterns?
Conclusion
FAQs

What Is a Doji Candlestick?

A doji is a candle whose open and close are almost equal. It looks like a cross, a plus sign, or a “T”, depending on where the high and low sit. The word is Japanese and roughly means “the same thing”, because the open and close sit at the same level.

Price did move during the period. It just came back to where it started. On a daily chart, that means the stock swung around all day and finished flat. On a 15-minute chart, the same thing happened in 15 minutes.

Traders read this as indecision. It matters most after a clear rise or fall, because a move that stalls often changes pace.

How to Read a Candle First

A candle records four prices: open, high, low, and close.

Body: the thick part between the open and close. A doji has almost none.
Wick: the thin lines above and below the body. They mark the high and low of the period.
Support: a price where a falling stock has often stopped and bounced.
Resistance: a price where a rising stock has often stopped and turned down.

How small is “almost equal”? One guide says the body should be under 5% of the candle’s full high-to-low range. If a candle runs from ₹100 to ₹110, the range is ₹10, so a doji’s body would be about 50 paise or less. Treat that as a rule of thumb, since not every educator uses the same cutoff.

What Are the Types of Doji Candlesticks?

The type depends on the length and position of the wicks.

Type	Looks like	What it shows
Standard doji	A cross with wicks of similar length	Plain indecision
Long legged doji	A cross with very long wicks	Big swings both ways, no winner
Dragonfly doji	“T” shape, long lower wick	Sellers pushed down, buyers brought it back
Gravestone doji	Upside-down “T”, long upper wick	Buyers pushed up, sellers brought it back
Four price doji	A flat line	Open, high, low, and close are equal

Standard Doji

The wicks are about equal. Neither side showed strength, so the candle tells you little unless it follows a strong move.

Long Legged Doji

Both wicks are very long. Price ran far in each direction and still closed near the open. Educators describe this as a big battle with no winner.

Dragonfly Doji

The open, high, and close sit near the top, with a long lower wick. Sellers pushed the price down, and buyers took back the whole fall. Near support after a decline, it suggests selling pressure may be easing. It looks like a hammer, but a dragonfly has almost no body.

Gravestone Doji

The open, low, and close sit near the bottom, with a long upper wick. Buyers pushed the price up, and sellers pulled it all the way back. Near resistance after a rise, it suggests buying pressure may be fading.

Four Price Doji

A single horizontal line with no wicks at all. It is very rare and mostly seen in extremely thin trading or a circuit session.

How to Trade a Doji Step by Step

A doji is a warning flag, not an entry. Check these in order.

Find the doji. Confirm the body is tiny, then name the type.
Check the trend before it. At least three candles moving in one direction give a doji something to interrupt. In a sideways market, ignore it.
Check the location. Is it near support, near resistance, or in the middle of nowhere?
Check volume. A doji on high volume means many traders took part and still could not agree. A doji on low volume is often just a quiet session.
Wait for the next candle. A close above the doji’s high leans bullish. A close below its low leans bearish.
Fix your exit before you enter. Educators place the stop loss beyond the doji’s high or low and look for at least a 1:2 risk-reward.

Begin with daily charts. Minute charts throw up many dojis that mean very little.

Practical Example With Numbers

This example uses made-up prices to show the logic. It is not a live quote.

A large private bank stock falls from ₹1,600 to ₹1,520 over six sessions. ₹1,500 has held as support twice in the last three months. On day seven, the stock opens at ₹1,520, drops to ₹1,495, recovers, and closes at ₹1,520. That is a dragonfly doji with a low of ₹1,495.

Item	Price
Day eight must close above	₹1,520
Entry	₹1,525
Stop loss	₹1,490
Risk per share	₹35
Target	₹1,595
Reward per share	₹70
Risk reward	1:2

With 100 shares, the planned loss is ₹3,500, and the planned gain is ₹7,000, before brokerage and taxes. If day eight closes below ₹1,495, the setup has failed. You skip it, or exit if you are already in.

The decision came from the fall before the doji, the support level, and the next candle. The doji alone did not decide it.

Key Features

Tiny body. Open and close are almost equal.
Wick length sets the type. A long lower wick means dragonfly, a long upper wick means gravestone, and long wicks on both sides mean long-legged.
Neutral on its own. Trend and price level give it direction.
Works on any timeframe. Daily charts are easier for beginners to read than minute charts.
Needs a follow-up candle. The next close shows which side took over.

Advantages

Early warning. After a strong run, a doji can tell you to tighten a stop loss or hold off on fresh buying.
Clear exit level. The doji’s high or low gives you a logical stop loss.
Quick to learn. The shape is easy to spot.
Works with other tools. Add support, resistance or volume to improve the read.
Works across markets. You see dojis on stocks, indices, commodities and currencies.

Risks and Limitations

Mixed reliability. A widely cited study by Thomas Bulkowski found the dragonfly doji reverses only about 50% of the time, and the long-legged doji’s breakout direction was close to random at 51%.
Late confirmation. By the time the next candle confirms, part of the move may be over.
Frequent on short charts. Dojis appear often on intraday charts, and most carry little meaning.
Judgement involved. Two traders may label the same candle differently.
Overtrading. Once you learn the pattern, it is tempting to see reversals everywhere.
Leverage. A wrong doji trade in futures or options can cost more than you planned.
Event days. Budget day, RBI policy, and quarterly results can override any pattern.

Tips for Beginners

Start with the daily chart of Nifty 50 or a large liquid stock.
Mark support and resistance before you look for dojis.
Never enter on the doji candle itself.
Decide your stop loss before you place the order.
Risk only a small part of your capital on one trade.
Study at least 20 past dojis and note what the next candle did.
Log every doji trade: date, type, location, and result. Traders tend to overestimate how often their setups work.

Doji vs Spinning Top vs Hammer

Parameter	Doji	Spinning top	Hammer
Body	Almost none	Small but visible	Small, near the top
Wicks	Depends on the type	Both sides, moderate	Long lower, short or none upper
What it hints	Indecision	Mild indecision	Possible bounce after a fall
Where it matters	Support, resistance, after a trend	After a trend	End of a downtrend
Next candle needed	Yes	Yes	Yes

A quick test: no visible body means doji. A small body with wicks on both sides means spinning top. A small body with a long lower wick means hammer. A spinning top has a visible body, while a doji has essentially none.

Common Mistakes

Trading the doji itself. It shows indecision, not direction. Wait for the next candle.
Treating every doji the same. A dragonfly and a standard doji point to different things. Name the type first.
Ignoring the trend. A doji in a sideways market has very low predictive value.
Placing a stop loss too close. Wicks can be long. Size your position so the stop makes sense.
Skipping volume. A high-volume doji at resistance matters more than a low-volume one.
Confusing small candles with dojis. A candle with a body of 10% to 20% of its range is a small-body candle, not a true doji.

Who Should Use Doji Patterns?

Swing and positional traders who use daily charts get the most from dojis. Beginners learning price action can use them to see how buyers and sellers behave. Long-term investors can watch weekly dojis on index charts as a caution sign before adding money.

Scalpers and very short-term intraday traders will find them less useful, because dojis are frequent on small timeframes. Anyone who wants a strict, rule-based signal should also be careful, because reading a doji takes judgement.

Conclusion

A doji tells you the market paused. Standard and long-legged dojis show confusion. A dragonfly leans bullish near support, and a gravestone leans bearish near resistance. None of them is a trade by itself. Check the trend before it, the price level, and the next candle’s close. Set a stop loss, keep the position small, and test your reading on past charts.