Why is the close of a candelstick or time frame so important?

I would like to know why traders put so much weight on the level when a timeframe closes. I mean, isn´t hi, low, and an average more interesteing. Let´s say we have a 60 minute time frame. The value at 60 minutes is concidered the closing value, but what makes that more important, or interesting then the value at 59, or 45 min? I have totally missed this, and would like for somebody to explain that to me, thanks.

I think there are three main reasons.

First, it’s “traditional” from the days when markets themselves had real, defined, opens and closes, and for instance “the London close” was hugely relevant to technical analysts as a measure of expected support/resistance and so on (arguably this is still true of stocks, indices, etc. and some people find it still relevant in the world of forex, albeit much less so).

Secondly, and much more significantly, I think, many traders have not quite appreciated (as you have) the huge significance of the difference between the objective nature of highs/lows compared with the essentially arbitrary/constructed/artificial nature of opens/closes. From my perspective, I tend to relate this second point to the differences between what candles and bars preferentially display, their “visual emphasis”, if you will - and I’ve said much more about that in [B]this post[/B].

And thirdly, we have the fact that opens and closes, artificial and arbitrary though they are, for the most part, constitute “convenient, measurable, definable chunks” of subdivision in a field (technical analysis) in which measurable, definable, subdivided chunks are (to some more than to others) a convenient thing to have. Partly (to some people) for trading purposes, and partly to provide a more-or-less mutually agreed frame of reference for discussing/analyzing, etc.

Highs and lows, yes, [U]very[/U] much so. Averages perhaps not so much, in my opinion, but still more than opens and closes, certainly.

One way to measure the momentum of price. In different time frames, you will have different momentum pictures. You have realized that if price reverses at the 45 of a 60 min candle, something might be up, or down. Or if news comes out and price stalls and reverses at the 30 min of a 4 hour candle, would we wait for the candle to close to see where we are and what to do? Heck no bubba, we move now. Looks as if johanin might be doing some studies.

Tim