Reading a candlestick

A candlestick compresses every trade in its window into four prices — open, high, low, close — drawn as a body and two wicks. Read properly, one candle tells you who controlled the auction, who fought back, and where the session settled the argument.

The parts and what they mean

• The body — open to close. This is the verdict: a large body means one side won decisively; a tiny body means the fight ended in a draw no matter how wild the middle was.
• The wicks — the full range that was rejected. A long wick is territory price visited and could not hold — someone met the move there and pushed it all the way back.
• The close — the single most important price. It is where the auction was willing to end, and it is what the next candle inherits.

Think auction, not picture

A candle closing on its high says buyers were still lifting at the bell — demand unfinished. A wide range that closes in the middle says both sides spent heavily for no ground — a stalemate that often precedes a real decision. You are not matching shapes to names; you are asking who paid, who got paid, and who is trapped.