Candlestick charts look complicated at first, but each candle tells a simple story: who won the fight between buyers and sellers during that period. Once you can read one candle, you can read a whole chart. Here's everything a beginner needs.
What a candlestick shows
A single candlestick summarises four prices for a chosen time period — one minute, one hour, one day, and so on. These are the open, high, low, and close (often shortened to OHLC):
- Open — the price when the period began.
- Close — the price when the period ended.
- High — the highest price reached.
- Low — the lowest price reached.
That's it. Every candle is just those four numbers drawn in a way your eye can scan quickly.
The two parts: body and wick
Each candle has two parts:
- The body — the thick rectangle between the open and the close. It shows the net move for the period.
- The wicks (also called shadows) — the thin lines above and below the body. They stretch to the high and the low, showing the extremes price touched but couldn't hold.
Colour tells you who won
Colour shows direction:
- A bullish candle (usually green or white) closes above its open — buyers were in control.
- A bearish candle (usually red or black) closes below its open — sellers were in control.
Note
Body vs wick is the key insight: a long body means one side dominated the period, while a long wick means price was pushed there and then rejected — a sign the move may be running out of strength.
Reading the story of a candle
Put it together and each candle becomes a mini-story:
- Long green body, tiny wicks — strong buying pressure, little resistance.
- Long red body, tiny wicks — strong selling pressure.
- Small body, long wicks on both sides — indecision; neither side won (this shape is called a doji).
- Small body up top, long lower wick — sellers pushed price down but buyers fought back (a hammer-style candle).
You don't need to memorise pattern names yet. Just learn to ask: Where's the body? How long are the wicks? Who closed in control?
Why candlesticks matter
Candlesticks pack more information than a simple line chart, which only shows the closing price. By revealing the open, high, low, and close at a glance, they let you read momentum and hesitation in real time — which is why they're the default chart for most traders.
They work on any timeframe and any market, and they become even more powerful when a candle forms at a key support or resistance level, or lines up with a signal from an indicator like RSI. On their own, candles describe what just happened; combined with context, they hint at what might happen next.
How to practise
The fastest way to learn is to watch candles form live:
- Open a chart and switch it to candlesticks.
- Pick one timeframe (the daily chart is great for beginners).
- For each candle, name the body, the wicks, and who won.
- Practise on a demo account so there's no money at risk while your eye trains.
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The bottom line
A candlestick is just four prices — open, high, low, close — drawn as a body and two wicks. The body shows who won the period; the wicks show where price was rejected. Learn to read that one story and every chart you open will start to make sense.
Educational content only, not financial advice. Trading forex carries a high level of risk. Read our full affiliate disclosure.