Price: the raw data behind all technical analysis

Price is the raw material of technical analysis: every indicator (moving averages, RSI, Ichimoku) is derived from it. On a candlestick chart, each candle summarizes one period of activity with four values, often abbreviated OHLC: the open, the high, the low and the close.

Using price directly in a screener, without going through an indicator, is often the simplest and most robust way to express an idea: "the close is above this level", "the low did not break this support", "price is trading above its moving average". That is why Screener.Trading treats price as a first-class indicator, comparable to any other.

How it's calculated

There is no formula here: price is the raw data provided by the market. Each candle of a given timeframe aggregates every trade of the period. The open is the first traded price, the close the last one, and the high and low are the extremes reached in between. In the screener, you pick which of the four components to use:

• Close: the last price of the candle, the most widely used reference in technical analysis.
• Open: the first price of the candle, useful for spotting gaps and the candle's direction.
• High: the upper extreme, relevant for resistance breakouts.
• Low: the lower extreme, relevant for support breaks and rejection wicks.

Screener rules only evaluate closed candles: the "close" is therefore always a real close, never a price still forming. This avoids false signals that appear and then vanish before the candle ends.

How to read it

The close is considered the most meaningful value: it is the price buyers and sellers agreed on at the end of the period. A close above a resistance level carries more weight than a mere wick poking through it. Highs and lows, meanwhile, draw the market's structure: a series of higher highs and higher lows defines an uptrend, the opposite a downtrend.

The gap between open and close forms the candle body and reveals the balance of power over the period: a large bullish body signals clear buying pressure, a long lower wick a rejection of lower prices. Keep in mind, however, that a single candle says little: it is the sequence of candles, and the context of key levels, that gives price its meaning.

In the screener

Price can be compared against a static value, an indicator, or itself on another timeframe. Concrete rule examples: "close above the 200 SMA on D1" to keep only assets in a long-term uptrend; "high above the previous candle's high on H4" to detect a breakout; "close between two price bounds" to target an accumulation zone.

Cross-timeframe comparisons also let you mix horizons: for instance, require the hourly close to sit above the daily Ichimoku Kijun, or the H1 price to hold above the 50 SMA computed on D1. Combining a price condition with a momentum indicator is often what produces the most actionable result lists.