Candlesticks
Each candle compresses a battle into four numbers — open, high, low, close — and a shape you can read at a glance.
Price StructureIntermediate 6 min read· Lesson 1 of 13 in Technical Analysis
Explanation
A candle shows one period's open, high, low, close (OHLC). The BODY spans open→close (green/up if close>open, red/down otherwise); the WICKS mark the extremes that didn't hold. Body size = conviction; wick size = rejection of those prices.
Interpretation
Long green body: buyers dominated start to finish. Long upper wick: rally sold into (supply overhead). Long lower wick: dip bought aggressively (demand below). Tiny body with long wicks: a stalemate. Single candles whisper; sequences and LOCATION (at support? after a long trend?) do the talking.
Common mistakes
Reading candles without context — a hammer in the middle of nowhere means little; at major support after a decline it's information. Also: mixing timeframes carelessly. A daily candle contains dozens of 5-minute stories.