How to change candle colors on TradingView

Change the native candle palette

On a standard Candles chart, open the gear icon and select Symbol. In the Candles section, set the up and down colors for Body, Borders, and Wick, then apply the settings. If only the candle center changes, check the border and wick controls separately. Other chart types expose different options.

• Check "Color bars based on previous close" before interpreting the colors. When enabled, it compares the close with the previous close rather than the current open.
• For example, open 100, close 102, and previous close 103 gives an up body by open-to-close comparison but a down color by previous-close comparison.
• For a different chart background, use Canvas. A dark background alone does not define an RSI or price-based coloring rule.

Choose barcolor or plotcandle

Decide whether you are changing the existing price bars or adding your own OHLC drawing. Use one coloring indicator while testing so another script cannot obscure the result. Keep barcolor() and plotcandle() in global scope; put the condition in their arguments instead of putting those calls inside an if block.

Complete Pine v6 example: RSI color rules

Paste this entire indicator into Pine Editor, save it, and add it to a standard Candles chart. With the default settings, a closed bar becomes orange when its 14-period RSI is above 70 or blue when RSI is below 30. Equality and the middle range receive no override. These thresholds demonstrate branching; they are not entry or exit instructions. Select Draw custom candles to compare the second rendering method without running a second script.

//@version=6
indicator("Conditional Candle Colors", overlay=true, behind_chart=false)

mode = input.string("Recolor chart bars", "Rendering", options=["Recolor chart bars", "Draw custom candles"])
enabled = input.bool(true, "Enable highlights")
waitForClose = input.bool(true, "Wait for bar close")
length = input.int(14, "RSI length", minval=1)
upperColor = input.color(color.orange, "RSI above 70")
lowerColor = input.color(color.blue, "RSI below 30")
customWick = input.color(color.gray, "Custom candle wick")

rsiValue = ta.rsi(close, length)
isReady = enabled and not na(rsiValue) and (not waitForClose or barstate.isconfirmed)
color ruleColor = na
if isReady
    if rsiValue > 70
        ruleColor := upperColor
    else if rsiValue < 30
        ruleColor := lowerColor

useChartBars = mode == "Recolor chart bars"
barcolor(useChartBars ? ruleColor : na, title="RSI chart highlights")
drawCustom = not useChartBars and not na(ruleColor)
plotcandle(drawCustom ? open : na, high, low, close, title="RSI custom candles", color=ruleColor, wickcolor=customWick, bordercolor=ruleColor)
plot(rsiValue, title="RSI for color rule", display=display.data_window)

Check the rule against boundary cases

This is a hypothetical logic test, not a backtest. Assume Enable highlights and Wait for bar close are on, the default colors are unchanged, and no other coloring script is active. The RSI column supplies an assumed calculated value; it does not claim a particular market produced that value. In TradingView, use the Data Window readout to inspect actual values before comparing the candle.

• The two RSI branches cannot both be true. If you replace them with overlapping conditions, the first matching branch wins.
• To test a price rule instead, define an exact comparison such as close above a moving average and specify what happens at equality. Keep the same readiness and fallback decisions.

Decide whether colors may change before close

An indicator recalculates during an open bar as new updates arrive. The latest close and RSI can move across a threshold repeatedly. Turning Wait for bar close off therefore allows a highlight to appear and disappear before the bar finishes. Historical bars do not preserve every intrabar color change.

• With the toggle on, barstate.isconfirmed permits the highlight on historical bars and on the closing update of a live bar. It does not mean the next bar will keep the same condition.
• The current chart timeframe supplies the confirmation in this example. If you add higher-timeframe data later, review confirmation of that data separately; barstate.isconfirmed inside request.security() is not a solution.
• The script creates no alerts or orders. If you later add an alert, make its condition and timing match the color rule you intend to monitor.

Resolve colors that look wrong or do not appear

First turn Enable highlights off and compare the underlying chart. Then test one rendering mode at a time. In custom mode, the original chart candles still exist underneath the added series; the script uses behind_chart=false to draw its candles in front. Disabling a layer is a useful diagnostic, not proof that its conditions were wrong.