Glossary · Candlestick patterns

Indecision (candlestick)

A market state in which neither buyers nor sellers gain control, shown by small-bodied candles such as dojis and spinning tops.

By Sky Trade editorial teamUpdated November 5, 2026

Indecision candles have small bodies relative to their range: price moved during the period but finished close to where it started. Dojis, spinning tops and the second candle of a harami are typical examples.

What indecision tells you depends on where it appears:

After a strong move into a known level, it can show that the push is stalling, a possible prelude to reversal or consolidation.
In the middle of a range, it is ordinary and carries little information.
Before scheduled news, it usually reflects traders waiting rather than any view about direction.

The trap is reading indecision as a signal to trade against the previous move. A pause is just as often followed by continuation. Many traders therefore treat indecision as a reason not to enter until the market shows its hand with a decisive candle.

There is also a practical implication for short expiries. If the last few candles are small and overlapping, price is not travelling far, and the result of a short trade may come down to a fraction of a pip. That is a coin toss, and a payout below 100% makes it a poor one. See the doji guide and the harami guide.

Example

After a 15-pip rise, GBP/USD prints three M1 candles with bodies of 0.3, 0.2 and 0.4 pip. A 30-second trade in this phase is decided by tiny wiggles, so the trader waits for a decisive close instead.

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