How to read candlesticks

Every candle encodes four prices. The body spans the open-to-close range; the wicks (shadows) mark the high and low the market reached during that period. A green or filled body means close above open — buying won the bar. A red or empty body means close below open — selling won.

• Long body — price moved decisively from open to close; that side had conviction.
• Small body — the bar was a standoff; buyers and sellers traded blows and ended near where they started.
• Long lower wick, small body — sellers drove it down but buyers bought it back up. Aggressive rejection.
• Long upper wick, small body — buyers pushed it up but sellers sold it back down. Supply showed up.

Single candles are noise; sequences are structure. Look at how bodies trend, whether wicks keep getting rejected at the same price, and whether bars are getting bigger or smaller.

Shrinking bodies into a level you already watched is hesitation. A long body breaking through that level is a shift. That progression — hesitating, then committing — is what traders mean by confirmation.

Switch between line, candle and area styles in any chart. Use the timeframe selector to zoom the same symbol from 1-year down to the intraday bars the feed provides, and read candles against your indicators rather than in isolation.