Reading Candlestick Charts: A Beginner's Roadmap to Technical Analysis
A candlestick chart looks intimidating until you realize each candle is just answering four questions: where did the price open, where did it close, and what was the highest and lowest point in between?
A green (or hollow) candle means the price closed higher than it opened.
A red (or filled) candle means it closed lower.
The thin lines above and below the body — the wicks — show the extremes reached during that period, even if the price didn't finish there.
Patterns emerge from sequences of these candles. A "doji," where open and close are nearly identical, often signals indecision in the market. A long wick on a single candle can suggest a rejection of higher or lower prices. None of these patterns predict the future with certainty — they describe what happened, and traders use that history to estimate probability, not guarantees.
The most common beginner mistake isn't misreading a candle — it's treating a single pattern as a signal to act, without considering the broader trend, volume, or wider market context around it. Technical analysis works best as one input among several, not a crystal ball
A candlestick chart looks intimidating until you realize each candle is just answering four questions: where did the price open, where did it close, and what was the highest and lowest point in between?
A green (or hollow) candle means the price closed higher than it opened.
A red (or filled) candle means it closed lower.
The thin lines above and below the body — the wicks — show the extremes reached during that period, even if the price didn't finish there.
Patterns emerge from sequences of these candles. A "doji," where open and close are nearly identical, often signals indecision in the market. A long wick on a single candle can suggest a rejection of higher or lower prices. None of these patterns predict the future with certainty — they describe what happened, and traders use that history to estimate probability, not guarantees.
The most common beginner mistake isn't misreading a candle — it's treating a single pattern as a signal to act, without considering the broader trend, volume, or wider market context around it. Technical analysis works best as one input among several, not a crystal ball