How to Read a Candlestick Chart

30 October 2018

Every online trader knows that reading a candlestick chart is just part of their skillset. Without it, you won’t be able to glean all the information you need about the market in mere seconds. And while other charts offer a lot of data about stocks, trends, and market movement, candlestick charts are quite popular thanks to their ability to condense a lot of information in their structure and the way the body, color, and shape of the candlesticks are represented on the chart. To help you get up to speed with this important concept here’s a breakdown of candlestick charts as well as a guide to doji candlestick pattern.

Unique Candlesticks:

Shaped like a candle, data on the chart are represented by a candlestick shape called the body. That body could be hollow or filled each denoting a different piece of information. There’s also the long thin line above and below the body. They are called “shadows” and refer to the high and low ranges of the price. The top shadow represents the high end of the price while the bottom one is for the low range. A hollow body represents a stock that closes higher than its opening price. In that case, the top shadow refers to the closing price while the bottom shadow represents the opening price. On the other hand, a stock closing lower than its opening price is represented as a filled body with the bottom shadow depicting the closing price while the opening price is represented by the top shadow. Thus it is easier to interpret the candlestick charts compared to other charts and learn more about the market trading with just one look.

Bodies Long and Short:

When you look at the chart and see a long body you can tell right away that there’s a lot of trading on that stock. The opposite is true of short bodies where little price movement is involved. Whether the body is black or white also tells you more about the kind of pressure the stock went through. A long white body means the buying pressure was extreme. They refer to a bullish wave and you should take a closer look at the big picture to make a good decision regarding this stock. Along black body is the exact opposite. It means the opening price declined and selling is rather aggressive. It’s not a good sign for that stock and you might see a panic in the market.

Shadows Long and Short:

Since the shadows represent the highs and lows of the session, there’s a lot you can tell about the session by just observing those top and bottom shadows. Short shadows mean that the majority of the trading was restrained and within the opening and closing prices. Long shadows, on the other hand, mean that prices swung wildly going beyond the open and close. So if you see a long upper shadow and a short bottom one you can conclude that buying was aggressive of this stock with high bid prices but later the highs were tampered leading to a weak close. The same can be read from a short upper shadow and a long bottom one. Selling was dominating the trading of this stock but toward the end of the session buyers forced the prices up giving it a good close.

Doji Pattern:

Doji is another candlestick that represents neutral patterns. However as part of the big picture they can provide a lot of information. You need to take into account the preceding price and future confirmation in order to decide whether the doji points to a bullish trend or a bearish one. A doji means the open and close of the security were equal. But both the previous trend and following candlesticks can change that neutrality. A long white candlestick followed by a doji can mean the buying pressure is easing off. The same applies to a long black candlestick followed by a doji. It means the selling is not as aggressive as before and there won’t be a panic. In general, doji mean the market is stable and both the supply and demand are even around that security.

Candlestick charts are a valuable way to get a lot of information about the trading of a certain stock. It’s a valuable asset in your trading arsenal and will help you become a more successful trader.

Read Also:

Content Rally

Content Rally wrapped around an online publication where you can publish your own intellectuals. It is a publishing platform designed to make great stories by content creators. This is your era, your place to be online. So come forward share your views, thoughts and ideas via Content Rally.

View all posts

What to Know About Location-Based Data

For businesses in any industry and of any size, location-based data and the use of a location analysis tool can take your marketing to the next level. Location-based marketing means that you’re targeting your audience based on where they are at a current moment, or maybe where they’ve recently been. For example, you could target an audience that had recently been to a local car repair shop, or maybe you’re using zip codes to target people. Location data can provide a lot of information about what a person does on a daily basis. This could include their shopping habits, where they prefer to eat, and it can even provide information about how they go from looking at a product online to buying it in a store. The use of location-based data means that you can personalize your products or services and be more targeted and efficient with your marketing. The following are some of the big things to know. The Basics Location data is typically a reference to the specific geographic position of a smartphone or another device, or a building. There are coordinates that are expressed as Latitude and Longitude, and these are the geographic positions themselves. As far as marketing, GPS data is what’s most commonly being talked about. GPS provides coordinates gathered by a device. There’s another term to be aware of here too, which is a Software Development Kit or SDK. SDK codes are used by app developers. These codes then tell the app once it’s installed on someone’s device to collect location data from that device. The codes that are installed in an app do require that the user give explicit permission for the collection of location data. The SDK method gives deep insight into the habits of users, but the opt-in element is important. Usually, the opt-in is obtained when a user first interacts with an app after downloading it. In some cases, an SDK can only work when the app is open, and others can run in the background. Legality Location data doesn’t record someone’s identity or any information that could personally identify them. Businesses small and large throughout the world do use location data. There are regulations and legal compliance issues to be aware of, though. For example, data privacy laws dictate how businesses can collect and utilize some customer data. A data collector has to get the specific consent of someone to use, store, manage or share their data. You also have to provide them the opportunity to opt-out any time. Strategies For Location-Based Marketing There are a lot of ways that you can use location-based data in your marketing. Examples include: Geofencing: This is a concept where location data is collected in real-time. With this approach, there’s the creation of a virtual perimeter around a certain location. Then, you’re either gathering data within that or targeting. You can use it for proximity marketing. For example, if someone with your app enters an area within your perimeter, then they might get a push notification letting them know of a sale or event. Geotargeting: This is about delivering ads to people in a particular location, but it’s different from geofencing in that it can use previous location data paired with specific attributes of the audience. It might, for example, use location along with interest or behavioral data. This gives the opportunity for segmented and tailored marketing. Conquesting: This location-driven marketing approach is about reaching your competitor’s customers. For example, you’re using collected data to reach an audience when they are visiting the location of your competitor. What Types of Businesses Are a Good Fit for Location-Driven Marketing? There are broadly a few types of businesses that might find location marketing is a good fit for them. First, if you have retail locations, it can be a good idea to explore the collection of location data. This can include shops, restaurants, or car dealerships. If you’re a business that has special events or seasonal events, you might consider it. This could include event venues, sporting businesses, and businesses in travel or hospitality. eCommerce brands might use location marketing to find shoppers that go to brick-and-mortar competitors. Niche industries such as transportation and real estate as well as education can benefit from location marketing. Location data is really the biggest thing right now in terms of understanding customer behavior and the full customer journey and filling in gaps in that journey or perhaps the gaps between online and offline behavior. Read Also: Crucial Role of Content Marketing in Local Business Tips on Doing Search Engine Marketing (SEM) for Businesses 5 Marketing Tips to Help Grow Your Business on Instagram

Shouldn’t On-Demand Workers Get Workers’ Compensation?

Things have changed significantly for American workers in recent years. More and more Americans are working not as employees, but as independent contractors. Some people call it contracting or freelancing, but the implications are always the same - a worker is hired for a particular service and is paid a rate (hourly or per job) for that service. While working as an independent contractor might be the preferred choice of some workers, it is more often than not an arrangement born out of necessity, facilitated by a growing sea change in the relationship between labor and business. Contractors might have a bit more freedom in the way they do their jobs but, as many freelancers have discovered, there are plenty of drawbacks to working as an independent contractor. They pay their own taxes, lack many of the benefits associated with full-time employment and - perhaps most concerning - they aren’t protected when it comes to injuries suffered on-the-job. It’s this lack of compensation for workplace injuries that brings us to a growing discontentment for a large subset of independent contractors - on-demand workers. What is an On-Demand Worker? On-demand workers are the people who pick us up when we hail a ride with Uber. They are the workers who come clean our house or fix a leaky pipe when we book someone on our Handy app. In short, on-demand workers are those that spring into action when we request a service from a company that relies on freelance labor. The “Ride-Share” Economy’s Impact on Workers Every few weeks or so, you’ll find a news story or press release about another company that wants to become the Uber of something. Handy wanted to become the Uber of household cleaning. Cargo wanted to become the Uber of shipping. The list goes on and on. The financial success and the immense popularity of ride-share services have prompted companies to look for ways to incorporate the ride-share business model into other services, and many of them have been successful in doing so. These “on-demand” services are not just popular in the business community, they are popular with consumers, too. In many cases, the services offered by the new breed of businesses are more affordable and, in some cases, more responsive to a customer’s needs. It might be tempting for consumers to think of these services as a much more direct way to communicate with someone who is providing the service they need. The truth, however, is a little more complicated than that. The driver who picks us up, or the handyman who comes to fix our sink, is working on contract through the business who runs the app we use to summon them. The money that we pay that worker is divided between the worker and the business they work for. Many of these businesses have requirements that their workers must meet before they can do their job. Workers don’t have the level of control over their jobs that one would typically associate with an independent contractor, yet they are provided at the same level of benefits. In other words, they are provided with no benefits. Read also: Making Your Office Safer for Workers No Security for On-Demand Workers On-demand workers can suffer injuries just like any other subset of workers. A high percentage of workplace injuries are transportation-related. Many workers suffer injuries while moving goods or traveling for work. When you consider the fact that on-demand workers spend a good deal of their time in transit from one job to another (or, as is the case with drivers for ride-share services, all of their time in transit), it’s no surprise that these workers face just as many, if not more, hazards while on the job as those who are considered to be employees. To zero in even more on just how dangerous some of these jobs can be, let’s look at taxi drivers and chauffeurs, whose jobs are virtually identical to Uber and Lyft drivers. Taxi drivers and chauffeurs have fatality rates five times those of the average worker. On-demand drivers face the same risks - vehicle accidents, violent attacks - yet they aren’t given the financial security that other workers receive. If an on-demand worker is injured on the job, the company that they work for will not be held accountable for the injuries of their workers. That worker will be left without the security that so many of us enjoy as a fundamental right. They work just as hard. They observe the requirements set out by the company that employs their services, yet they are guaranteed nothing when something goes wrong. Contractors “In-Name Only” Understandably, many on-demand workers are growing increasingly dissatisfied with their classification as independent contractors. This is evidenced in a number of lawsuits in which workers are seeking to be treated with the same rights and benefits as other types of workers. This has been happening in the trucking industry for some time, an industry that has shifted from one heavily reliant on employed drivers (who used to be more likely to be union members) to one of the independent workers, and this industry suffered major labor shortage as a result. In one high-profile lawsuit, an appeals court found that FedEx incorrectly classified their drivers as contractors, despite the fact that FedEx required workers to wear FedEx uniforms, drive FedEx vehicles, and groom themselves according to the standards of FedEx. While on-demand workers face slightly different requirements from their companies, the principle is very much the same. The question is: How much can a company ask of you before they should give you the same rights as their “employees” are afforded? The answer is that you can ask only so much from a worker before they are essentially a contractor "in-name-only.” It’s becoming clear that companies are taking all of the advantages they can out of the “contract” relationship they have with workers while providing none of the benefits that they would give their employees. Unfortunately, this means a lack of workers’ compensation benefits for on-demand workers. The Implications for Consumers On-demand services might seem like a great thing for consumers, for now, but there are many ways in which the relationship between workers and their companies will begin to seep into the quality of the services consumers are currently enjoying. If companies providing on-demand services fail to provide workers with adequate benefits, they will face the same challenges as the transportation industry, which is struggling to keep high-quality workers who will find more benefits and security in other labor markets. In other words, on-demand suppliers will eventually get what they pay for and, by extension, so will consumers. In that respect, the lack of protection for on-demand workers is bad for business, not just for the workers themselves, but for consumers as well.

Marketing

How to Monitor Your Brand?

On the Internet, to be particular on social media, everyone and anyone can share views about your brand. One thing you need to understand is that this information will reach a vast audience. Most of the information that people share on social media go viral. Brand monitoring is the best way forward if you want to keep on top of this information. What is brand monitoring? Brand monitoring refers to the process of monitoring several channels to find out various mentions of your brand and asses what people have to say about your products or services. It can include complaints on social media or a newspaper article about a merger, among other things. The role of brand monitoring is to respond and act on the mentions you get. It can assist you to jump on good publicity or spot a crisis before the situation worsens. It will also give you valuable insights on how the market views and talks about your products. We can also define brand monitoring as a business analytics process that monitors various channels on the media or web. It helps users to get information about the brand, products, and all the things that are connected to your brand. It will allow you to monitor the reception and reputation of your brand by your target demographic, consumer base, and the general public. You have to strategically and regularly investigate online resources and media to help you react to the various sentiments your brand and of your competitors experience. You have to proactively monitor the reputation of your brand and react to customer and press concerns to enhance trust in your brand. Why do you need to monitor your brand mentions? Identifying and Addressing Infringers: These people always look at the popularity and name of your brand to ride on it. Web monitoring will help you to identify these infringers who adopt confusing domain and brand names that resemble yours. Trademark law protects brand owners and consumers against such unfair competition. The good news about brand monitoring is that it will help you to enforce this practice. Addressing Consumer and Competitor Protection: Brand monitoring will help you to respond to both positive and negative sentiments from consumers. Most customers express their feelings on complaints, sites, forums, or social media. Also, it will help you to monitor the competition representation of your brand in terms of negative reviews and comparative advertising. What monitoring tools are there on the market? The market has so many social media monitoring tools that you can use to track your mention. Some of them include; Famm.io Famm.io is one of the best social media and web monitoring tools. It is an effective tool if you want to know what people think about your brand. The tool will show you the resources where your brand is mentioned most of the time. It will show you the best resource when it comes to brand mentions. Find out the places where people just watch and where people communicate most of the time. LexisNexis Print media and tracking broadcast are quite tricky unless you have people reading all the newspapers and watching all channels. LexisNexis is one of the best tools for monitoring these two elements. They will assist you in tracking mentions on several publications and in analyzing the results. Source LexisNexis is a big organization, which helps some of the biggest brands explore analytics, data, reporting and monitoring. It helps in identifying the quickest trends and news breakouts (viral content) and informs brands of advertising opportunities. The smart and easy interface helps brands understand metrics and take detailed steps as to the nest strategies. Google Alerts Google Alerts is an easy and free social media monitoring tool. You will need to input a keyword and you will get an alert when a person uses it on the website. It offers mentions but has no long-term overviews and analysis. Google Alert is an absolutely free tool that will help you get mentions about your brand in a small, yet significant way. Please do not expect this tool to be as powerful or potent as some of the best ones on the list. It is free and should be expected to be basic. TweetDeck This tool is great for community managers who use Twitter but also does brand monitoring through Twitter. Setup search columns to give you live feed once the things you specify get mentions. A free tool is ideal for brand mentions. This was an independent tool, which was later acquired by Twitter. This is a great platform to align your Twitter mentions and activities. The dashboard is clean, precise and easy to use. Once you start using TweetDeck, it will be difficult for you to go to other platforms like HootSuite, Buffer or anyone else. Why Famm.io stands apart from the crowd? Over the last three years, I have used several brand-monitoring tools on the market. What makes Famm.io stand out is the multi-functional capabilities. You are not only allowed to see your brand but also integrate content resources and competitor strategies in your dashboard. If you are looking to run Influencer Marketing campaigns, Famm.io helps you find your brand mentions not only on search but also on social. However, for me personally, the best part about Famm.io is the possibility to reach out to different Content Creators. You can look for content creators, not only in your niche but also in different niches. The capabilities of Famm.io can help your brand manage its online reputation in a successful manner. It can also help you reach disgruntled users or employees before they can do too much damage. This will help brands maintain good relations with their audiences and tackle PR nightmares before they get too big. Conclusion: Brand monitoring became a trend in a recent couple of years. It brings value as a marketing and PR component as well as a steady approach for brand awareness strategy. What can be more important than benefits for users, a brand’s value and its reputation? Overall, tools enumerated above are trustworthy enough and good for analysis and building marketing strategies and social media campaigns. All of these online assistants insulate from the needless search offering the selection of on-demand features. Read Also: Winning Tactics To Build A Competitive Service Delivery Website Reasons Why You Should Implement Wireless Monitoring System