Spinning Top

Single-bar indecision candle with a small body and two long shadows. Both bulls and bears pushed price away from the close, but neither side won — the bar's body is small, both shadows long. Stronger indecision signal than Doji (which has body ≈ 0) because Spinning Top still has a colour direction.

Quick reference

Item	Value
Family	Candlestick Patterns
Input type	Candle
Output type	f64 — +1.0 bullish ST, -1.0 bearish ST, 0.0 otherwise
Output range	{-1.0, 0.0, +1.0}
Default parameters	body_threshold = 0.3 (body ≤ 30% of range)
Warmup period	1
Interpretation	Indecision; signed by candle direction

Formula

body         = |close - open|
upper_shadow = high - max(open, close)
lower_shadow = min(open, close) - low
range        = high - low

spinning = (body <= body_threshold · range)
        AND (upper_shadow >= 2 · body)
        AND (lower_shadow >= 2 · body)
        AND (body > 0)

direction = +1.0 if close > open
            -1.0 if close < open

A clean Doji (body == 0) is not a Spinning Top — the body > 0 clause rejects it. See crates/wickra-core/src/indicators/spinning_top.rs.

Parameters

Name	Type	Default	Constraint	Description
body_threshold	f64	0.3	finite, (0, 1]	Body as max fraction of range.

SpinningTop::new returns Error::InvalidPeriod for out-of-range body_threshold.

Signed ±1 encoding

This pattern already emits the uniform candlestick sign convention shared across the family — +1.0 bullish, −1.0 bearish, 0.0 no pattern — so it drops straight into a machine-learning feature matrix where the bullish and bearish variants of the pattern occupy a single dimension.

Inputs / Outputs

Indicator<Input = Candle, Output = f64>. Python / Node: same as other single-bar candle patterns.

Warmup

warmup_period() == 1. Stateless.

Edge cases

• Distinct from Doji. Doji requires body ≈ 0; Spinning Top requires body > 0 AND body / range ≤ threshold AND both shadows ≥ 2·body.
• Direction signed. Even though the pattern is indecision, Wickra emits a signed value so downstream filters can pick bullish ST vs bearish ST.
• Reset. Stateless.

Examples

Rust

use wickra::{Candle, Indicator, SpinningTop};

fn main() -> Result<(), Box<dyn std::error::Error>> {
    // Small green body, long wicks both sides
    let c = Candle::new(100.0, 103.0, 97.0, 100.5, 1.0, 0)?;
    let mut st = SpinningTop::with_threshold(0.3)?;
    println!("{:?}", st.update(c));  // +1.0 (bullish ST: small body, long shadows, close > open)
    Ok(())
}

Python

import numpy as np
import wickra as ta

o = np.array([100.0])
h = np.array([103.0])
l = np.array([ 97.0])
c = np.array([100.5])

st = ta.SpinningTop(0.3)
print(st.batch(o, h, l, c))

Node

const wickra = require('wickra');
const st = new wickra.SpinningTop(0.3);
console.log(st.batch([100], [103], [97], [100.5]));

Streaming

use wickra::{Candle, Indicator, SpinningTop};

let mut st = SpinningTop::with_threshold(0.3).unwrap();
let candle_stream: Vec<wickra::Candle> = Vec::new(); // your live OHLCV candle feed
for bar in candle_stream {
    let v = st.update(bar);
    if v.is_some_and(|x| x != 0.0) {
        /* indecision bar — watch next bar for direction confirmation */
    }
}

Interpretation

• Indecision. Both sides pushed price far from the close but couldn't sustain — signals a pause / equilibrium.
• At trend extremes. A Spinning Top after a strong move is a potential exhaustion signal — momentum has paused, reversal may follow.
• Pair with confirmation. Like Doji, Spinning Top is a watch-the-next-bar signal. Often appears as middle bar in three-bar reversal patterns.

Common pitfalls

• Mistaking ST for Doji. Doji = no body; ST = small body with long wicks. Two different patterns with different signal characteristics.
• Trading ST alone. Statistical edge as a reversal trigger is marginal; useful as a filter on top of other signals.

References

• Steve Nison, Japanese Candlestick Charting Techniques (1991).

See also

• Doji — zero-body cousin.
• Marubozu — opposite (full body, no shadows).
• Hammer, HangingMan — asymmetric long-wick siblings.
• Indicators-Overview — full taxonomy.