Doji
Indecision1 session
A session that went somewhere and came back to where it started. Not a direction — a pause.
The shape: Open and close within a tenth of the session's range
What it is
A doji closes essentially where it opened. The range can be wide or narrow; what defines it is that the day resolved nothing.
On its own it is the most over-read shape in charting — most quiet sessions are nearly dojis, and a year of daily bars contains dozens.
That is why the chart marks one only after a directional run of at least 2%: a doji is information about a move that was underway, and noise about a market that was already going nowhere.
How to read it
Read it against what preceded it. After a sustained advance or decline, a session that resolves nothing is the first evidence the move has stopped paying.
Its high and low become the range to watch. Which side the next session leaves is the actual signal; the doji is only the question.
On the chart: a triangle below the bar for a bullish reading, above it for a bearish one, a diamond for indecision. Hover any mark to see the pattern and what qualified it — the level it formed at and the move it followed.
Using it on the wheel
For a premium seller, a doji after a decline describes a market that has stopped falling without yet turning — which is often when implied volatility is still elevated and price has stopped making new lows.
It is weak evidence by construction. It belongs in a picture that already includes a level, a trend reading and the premium on offer, not as a reason of its own.
Like everything in this guide, these are descriptions of conditions and reference levels — context for your own decisions, not instructions to trade.