Tech Analysis,
The red and black (I would have preferred red and green) indicate the change in close today vs close yesterday: black = higher close today; red = lower close today. Whereas the hollow (or solid) show close higher than open (or close lower than open).
Here's the link where they explain their scheme in more detail
http://stockcharts.com/commentary/mailbag/mailbag20000809.html
A solid black candle at the top of a rally would then indicate that the stock gapped up that day, but moved lower thru the day (while still closing higher than the previous day's close). Now, had it closed even lower still (lower than previous day close) it would then be a solid red candle.
So really, the fact that a solid candle (of any color) appears with a higher open after a recent rally is the bigger signal of a potential reversal (more so if you believe MM's are able to gap up a stock they want to sell out of). Then whether that candle closes higher or lower than the previous day (resulting in the change in colors) may be considered a lesser signal. Various candle patterns deal with these options.
One could argue that just solid/hollow candles portray the bulk of the information, and having two colors adds relatively little more info. I agree, but hey, since computers can easily do the extra work for 2 colors, I'd like the extra info. (The TC2000 folks don't agree with me).
In fact, this thread has rekindled my interest in doing a little testing to see if there is a good probability in black solid candles preceding a decline. A scan for this can easily be set up (actually stockcharts has a pre-built scan for this).
A hollow red candle after a selloff would be the reverse scenario.
G'day
davez