KLinien

KLinien refers to K-Linien, also known as candlestick lines or candle charts, a type of price chart used in technical analysis to display the movement of an asset over a fixed time period. Each K-Line encodes open, high, low and close prices (OHLC). The body of the line shows the range between the opening and closing prices, and the wicks or shadows show the intra-period extremes. A filled or colored body typically indicates a price drop during the period, while an empty or differently colored body indicates a price rise.

Origins of K-Linien trace to 18th-century Japan, where rice traders used candlestick-style representations to track price activity. The method gained widespread adoption in East Asia and later spread to global financial markets, where it became a standard tool in charting software and trading strategies. In German-language finance literature, the term KLinien is commonly used to describe these charts, though in English discussions the term candlestick chart is more prevalent.

Usage and interpretation: K-Linien are used to analyze price trends, volatility and potential reversals. Traders look for patterns such as bullish or bearish engulfing, doji, hammer and shooting star to inform decision-making. While useful for visualizing price action, K-Linien are retrospective by nature and should be combined with other analysis methods. Variants and related approaches include alternative chart types and smoothing techniques, but the basic OHLC representation remains central.

In modern markets, K-Linien are employed across stocks, currencies, commodities and indices, in both manual chart analysis and automated trading systems. See also: candlestick chart, OHLC, technical analysis.