Methodology and data sources
Where the charts come from, how a round is simulated, and what the game leaves out. If something here does not match what you see in the game, tell us.
Stock data
Daily open, high, low, close and volume for about 100 US-listed stocks, from January 2020 onward, collected from Yahoo Finance's public daily chart data and stored in our own database. Prices are adjusted for stock splits, so a split does not appear as a crash.
The list covers large tech, banks and payments, healthcare, consumer brands, industrials, energy, EV makers and a few meme-era names.
Crypto data
Daily candles for 13 major coins (BTC, ETH, SOL, XRP, ADA, DOGE, AVAX, LINK, TRX, XLM, BCH, ETC and SUI) from Binance's public market data, using each coin's USDT pair. Crypto trades around the clock, so each daily candle covers a full UTC day.
How a round is built
Each round takes a 100-candle window from one symbol's history, starting at a random point. The first 40 candles are shown at the start; the next 60 are revealed one at a time as you play. Because the start point changes every round, outcomes cannot be memorized.
Candles are drawn from the stored values without smoothing or invented data.
Trades and scoring
Every player starts with $10,000 in virtual money. A buy or sell fills at the current candle's closing price. The game does not model spreads, commissions, taxes or slippage. You can buy and sell shares you hold; shorting and leverage are not available.
When a round ends, any open position is sold at the final candle's close. The result screen shows your return and, for comparison, the return from holding the symbol from the first playable candle to the last. Your balance carries over between rounds, and signed-in players are ranked by balance on the leaderboard.
Chips
Each round costs one chip. You can hold up to 10 chips, and one refills every 15 minutes. The apps also offer optional ways to get chips.
Pattern definitions
Candlestick pattern names used in our guides follow Steve Nison's Japanese Candlestick Charting Techniques, cross-checked with John Murphy's Technical Analysis of the Financial Markets for indicators. Where sources disagree, the guide says so.
What the game does not model
Order books and partial fills, trading halts, after-hours sessions, dividends, fees and taxes, and the emotions of risking real money. Results in the game are practice feedback, not a forecast of real-money returns.
Reporting a data problem
If a candle looks wrong, email support@onecandleahead.app with the symbol, the date and what you expected. We check it against the source and fix confirmed errors.
Keep going
One Candle Ahead is an educational practice game with virtual money. It does not provide financial advice, investment recommendations, brokerage, real-money trading, or guaranteed results.