Spinning Top
A candlestick with a small body centered between roughly equal upper and lower wicks, reflecting a volatile period in which neither buyers nor sellers gained a decisive advantage.
A spinning top is a candlestick with a small body positioned roughly in the middle of the candle's overall range, flanked by upper and lower wicks of roughly similar, often substantial length. It reflects a period of real volatility and back-and-forth price movement in both directions, but one in which neither buyers nor sellers ultimately gained a decisive advantage by the close, similar in spirit to a doji (see Kaavon's "Doji" glossary definition) but with a somewhat larger body.
Like a doji, a spinning top's significance depends heavily on the surrounding trend context: appearing after a sustained directional move, it's often watched as an early sign that the prevailing trend may be losing conviction, while appearing within an already choppy, directionless market, it carries much less significance, since volatile indecision is simply the norm in that environment.
Examples
- A spinning top forming after a strong, sustained rally is often watched as an early sign that buying conviction may be weakening, similar to how a doji is interpreted in the same context.
- A spinning top differs from a doji mainly in having a somewhat larger body, though both reflect a similar underlying struggle between buyers and sellers during that period.