what is the difference between a doji and a spinning top 
candlestick charts can be used to discern quite a bit of information about market trends sentiment momentum and volatility the patterns that form in the candlestick charts are signals of such market actions and reactions doji and spinning tops show that buying and selling pressures are essentially equal but there are differences between the two and how technical analysts read them spinning tops are quite similar to doji but their bodies are larger where the open and close are relatively close a candle s body generally can represent up to 5 of the size of the entire candle s range to be classified as a doji any more than that and it becomes a spinning top a spinning top also signals weakness in the current trend but not necessarily a reversal if either a doji or spinning top is spotted look to other indicators such as bollinger bands to determine the context to decide if they are indicative of trend neutrality or reversal doji and spinning top candles are commonly seen as part of larger patterns such as the star formations by technical analysts on their own they both indicate neutrality in price limitations of a dojiin isolation a doji candlestick is a neutral indicator that provides little information moreover a doji is not a common occurrence therefore it is not a reliable tool for spotting things like price reversals when a reversal does occur it isn t always reliable either there is no assurance that the price will continue in the expected direction following the confirmation candle the size of the doji s tail or wick coupled with the size of the confirmation candle can sometimes mean the entry point for a trade is a long way from the stop loss location this means traders will need to find another location for the stop loss or they may need to forgo the trade because too large of a stop loss may not justify the potential reward of the trade estimating the potential reward of a doji informed trade also can be difficult because candlestick patterns don t typically provide price targets other techniques such as other candlestick patterns indicators or strategies are required to exit the trade when and if profitable 