Candle Body Anatomy
- Indicators
- Version: 1.0
- Activations: 5
# Candle Body Anatomy - Candle proportions in numbers
*Category: Pattern Recognition | Difficulty: beginner | Window: separate window below the chart | Markets: Universal (Forex, indices, commodities, crypto, stocks) | Suggested timeframes: M15, M30, H1, H4, D1*
## Short description
> Splits every candle into body and wicks as a percentage of the range and classifies it on explicit numeric thresholds instead of qualitative judgement.
## Full description
### Overview
Traditional candle names describe proportions, but qualitatively and subjectively: two traders call two different candles a hammer, and neither is wrong because the definition contains no numbers. This indicator splits every candle into its three proportional parts, body, upper wick and lower wick, expressed as a percentage of the total range, and classifies them into five categories on explicit thresholds. The result is repeatable and verifiable: the same candle is classified the same way by anyone, always. A further filter excludes bars too small relative to current volatility, because classifying a tiny candle carries no operational meaning however interesting its proportions may look.
### How the calculation works
1. The candle range is the distance between high and low, forming the hundred per cent against which everything is measured.
2. The body is the distance between open and close, regardless of which of the two is higher.
3. The two wicks are the remaining parts, above and below the body.
4. A bar whose range is below InpMinRangeAtr times the ATR is classified as irrelevant, because its proportions describe nothing meaningful.
5. There are five categories: decisive bullish, decisive bearish, rejection from above, rejection from below and indecision.
6. The order of checks is deliberate: the categories are not mutually exclusive and priority goes to the most informative configuration.
### How to use it
- Read the histogram colour for the classification and its height to see how much the body dominates the candle.
- The two wick lines make it immediate to recognise which side was rejected, without having to zoom the chart.
- A sequence of decisive candles in the same direction describes a supported move, with no need for any trend indicator.
- Bars classified as irrelevant should simply be ignored: this is correct information, not a flaw.
- Adjust the three thresholds to your own personal definition of a decisive candle and of a rejection, making it explicit.
### Who it is for and on which timeframes
It suits price action students who want to make their definitions numeric, and less experienced traders learning to recognise configurations with an objective reference. It works on all timeframes from M15 up. It produces no operational signals and no entry indication should be sought in it: it describes candle shape, an analysis layer preceding any decision.
### Practical example of reading a signal
On EURUSD H1 a trader notices a candle that looks like a hammer and would be tempted to buy. The indicator shows a body at twenty eight per cent and a lower wick at forty one per cent: the classification comes out as indecision, not rejection, because the wick does not reach the sixty per cent threshold they themselves set as the definition of rejection. The candle is not what it looked like by eye. Three bars later one forms with an eight per cent body and a seventy nine per cent lower wick: that is a rejection from below, and the histogram colours it accordingly.
## Input parameters
| Parameter | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
| `InpStrongBody` | 65.0 | Body share beyond which the candle is deemed decisive. It is the numeric definition of a full bodied candle. |
| `InpDojiBody` | 12.0 | Body share below which the candle is deemed indecisive. If the two thresholds are inconsistent, the indicator separates them. |
| `InpLongWick` | 60.0 | Wick share beyond which the wick is deemed dominant and the candle a rejection. |
| `InpAtrPeriod` | 30 | ATR period used to exclude bars too small to be significant. |
| `InpMinRangeAtr` | 0.30 | Minimum bar range in ATR. Below this threshold classification is skipped. |
## Advantages / strengths
- It makes numeric and repeatable a classification that is purely qualitative in tradition.
- The size filter excludes insignificant bars, which would otherwise produce misleading classifications.
- The three thresholds are adjustable, so anyone can encode their own personal definition.
- Extremely light computation, no repaint and no external dependency.
## Limitations and warnings
- It describes one candle at a time and completely ignores the context it sits in.
- The categories are not mutually exclusive and the priority order, though documented, remains a design choice.
- It produces no operational signal: it is a descriptive tool, not a decision making one.
- The default thresholds are reasonable conventions with no particular statistical foundation.
**No repaint:** values printed on a closed bar are never modified afterwards.
**Disclaimer.** This product is a technical analysis tool, not an automated trading system, and it offers no profit guarantee whatsoever. Financial markets carry the risk of total loss of the invested capital. Past performance is not indicative of future results. Every signal must be confirmed with your own analysis, a money management plan and prior testing on a demo account. The author is not responsible for trading decisions taken on the basis of this indicator.
## Suggested tags / keywords for MQL5
`candlestick`, `price action`, `pattern`, `anatomy`, `classification`, `wick`, `no repaint`, `education`
