CANDLESTICK PLOT

CANDLESTICK PLOT

Graphics Command

Generates a candlestick plot.

Candlestick plots are used to display data where there is an opening value and a closing value for a given time unit. For example, it can be used to display daily stock prices over a period of time. However, it can be applied to any data where there are start and end values for each time unit.

Specifically, it draws a box between the opening and closing values. In addition, it draws a line from the open/close values to the minimum and maximum values for the time unit.

The appearance of the plot can be controlled by settings for the LINE and REGION and their associated attribute setting commands. Specifically,

Trace 1	-	this is the box between the open and close values for the case where the close is higher than the open
Trace 2	-	this is the box between the open and close values for the case where the close is lower than the open
Trace 3	-	this is the line from the minimum of the open and close values to the minimum value
Trace 4	-	this is the line from the maximum of the open and close values to the maximum value

Note that the REGION FILL switch is automatically set to ON for the first 2 traces.

Two common choices are:

1. Draw the boxes in green for the case where the close value is greater than the open value and draw the boxes in red for the case where the close value is less than the open value.

2. Draw the boxes in white (i.e., empty) for the case where the close value is greater than the open value and draw the boxes in black for the case where the close value is less than the open value.

This is demonstrated in the Program example below.

CANDLESTICK PLOT <yopen> <yclose> <ylow> yhigh>
                        <SUBSET/EXCEPT/FOR qualification>
where <yopen> is the response variable containing the opening values;
            <yclose> is the response variable containing the closing values;
            <ylow> is the response variable containing the minimum values;
            <yhigh> is the response variable containing the maximum values;
and where the <SUBSET/EXCEPT/FOR qualification> is optional.

For this syntax, the x-axis value is set to the sequence number.

CANDLESTICK PLOT <yopen> <yclose> <ylow> yhigh> <x>
                        <SUBSET/EXCEPT/FOR qualification>
where <yopen> is the response variable containing the opening values;
            <yclose> is the response variable containing the closing values;
            <ylow> is the response variable containing the minimum values;
            <yhigh> is the response variable containing the maximum values;
            <x> is the horizontal axis variable;
and where the <SUBSET/EXCEPT/FOR qualification> is optional.

CANDLESTICK PLOT YOPEN YCLOSE YLOW YHIGH
CANDLESTICK PLOT YOPEN YCLOSE YLOW YHIGH X

The width of the box can be controlled by entering the command
SET CANDLESTICK PLOT BAR WIDTH <value>

The default value is -1 which means Dataplot will use

(X(2) - X(1))/2

where X is the horizontal axis value.

None

None

LINES	=	Sets the type for plot lines.
REGION FILL	=	Sets the type for plot regions.
WATERFALL PLOT	=	Generate a waterfall plot.
DUMBBELL PLOT	=	Generate a dumbbell plot.
BULLET PLOT	=	Generate a bullet plot.
VARIABLE WIDTH BAR PLOT	=	Generate a variable width bar plot.
I PLOT	=	Generate an i-plot.
BOX PLOT	=	Generate a box plot.

Gregory M., Morris (2006), "Candlestick Charting Explained: Timeless Techniques for Trading Stocks and Futures," McGraw-Hill, ISBN 9780071461542.

Financial Graphics

2025/06

 
. Step 1:   Read the data
.
skip 25
column limits 13 80
read candlestick.dat yclose yopen ylow yhigh
skip 0
let n = size yopen
.
column limits 1 12
loop for k = 1 1 n
    let irow = 25 + k
    row limits irow irow
    read string candlestick.dat s^k
end of loop
column limits
row limits
.
. Step 2:   Set some plot control
.
case asis
title case asis
label case asis
tic mark label case asis
.
xlimits 1 27
major x1tic mark number 9
minor x1tic mark number 2
x1tic mark label format alpha
x1tic mark label content ^s1 ^s4 ^s7 ^s10 ^s13 ^s16 ^s19 ^s22 ^s25
tic mark offset units data
x1tic mark offset 0.8 3.8
x1tic mark label size 1.5
.
region fill color blue red
line blank blank solid solid
line color blue red black black
.
. Step 3:   Generate the plot
.
title Candlestick Plot
y1label Price
x1label Date
x2label Blue: Close > Open, Red: Close < Open
.
candlestick plot yopen yclose ylow yhigh