What it shows
Hollow candles encode two pieces of information per candle: fill and color. A candle is hollow (unfilled) when the close is above its own open and filled when the close is below the open, while the outline color is decided by the close relative to the previous candle's close. This lets one candle show both intraperiod direction and interperiod trend, for example a filled-but-green candle that closed below its open yet above yesterday's close.
How it's built
Geometry is identical to regular candlesticks: bodies span open to close and wicks reach the high and low of each fixed time interval. Fill state comes from close versus open, and border/wick color comes from close versus the prior close.
Switch to it
Open the chart-type menu in the header (next to the interval buttons) and pick Hollow candles — or pin it as a favourite for one-click switching.
When to use it
- Seeing trend continuation versus intraperiod pullback in a single glance
- Gap-heavy markets like stocks, where close-over-prior-close matters as much as close-over-open
- Swing trading where you want the extra layer of information without adding an indicator
Settings reference
Open Chart Settings (gear, or double-click the chart background) with this type active. Every setting, its possible values and what it changes:
| Setting | Control | Possible values | Default | Effect |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Color bars based on previous close | checkbox | on/off | off | Colors each candle by comparing its close to the previous bar's close instead of its own open. On hollow candles this also drives which candles are drawn hollow. |
| Body | checkbox + two-colors | on/off; any color (up / down) | on; up #089981, down #F23645 | Sets the up/down body colors. Candles that closed above the previous close are drawn hollow (outline only) in the up color; down candles get a solid filled body in the down color. Unchecked hides bodies entirely. |
| Borders | checkbox + two-colors | on/off; any color (up / down) | on; up #089981, down #F23645 | Draws the candle body outline in the chosen up/down colors. On hollow up candles the outline is all that renders, so this controls their visible color. |
| Wick | checkbox + two-colors | on/off; any color (up / down) | on; up #089981, down #F23645 | Draws the high/low wick lines in the chosen up/down colors. Unchecked, wicks are hidden. |
| Precision | select | Default, 0 (1), 1 (1.1), 2 (1.01), 3 (1.001), 4 (1.0001), 5 (1.00001), 6 (1.000001), 7 (1.0000001), 8 (1.00000001) | Default | Number of decimal places shown on the price scale and price readouts. Default derives the precision from the symbol's own price scale. |
Watch out for
- Interpretation depends on the previous close, so the very first candle and candles after data gaps can look ambiguous
- Traders used to solid candles often misread hollow/filled states at first; the four visual states take practice