Why are my candles colored incorrectly?

The up and down color options in the price properties windows is not based on the same open/close relationship that governs candlesticks. Candlesticks are solid (black) if the open is more than the close and hollow (white) if the open is less than the close. The price bars are colored by the properties window as up if the current close is more than the prior close and down if the current close is less than the prior close. If you want to have candles colored differently, you will need to use an expert with different highlights setup for white and black candles.

You can do this with an Expert Advisor as follows:

1. Start MetaStock.
2. Display a candlestick chart.
3. Click Format | Prices.
4. Set the UP and DOWN fields to black and click OK.
5. Click Tools | Expert Advisor.
6. Click New.
7. Click the Name tab.
8. Type Candlestick Color Change into the Name field.
9. Click the Highlights tab.
10. Click New.
11. Type UP CANDLE Into the name field.
12. Set the color to Green.
13. Type C>O into the Condition field and click OK.
14. Click New again.
15. Type DOWN CANDLE Into the name field.
16. Set the color to Red.
17. Type C<O into the Condition field and click OK
18. Click OK to Close the Expert Editor menu.
19. Then click Attach to attach this Expert to the Chart.
20. The candlestick chart will now display Green and Red