What a candlestick is actually telling you
Each candle on a chart represents one block of time — could be 1 minute, could be 1 day, depending on the timeframe you're viewing.
A candle has 4 pieces of information: where price opened, where it closed, and the highest and lowest points it touched during that time. The "body" is the thick part between open and close. The thin lines above and below are called wicks — they show how far price reached before pulling back.
Green (or sometimes white/blue) usually means price closed higher than it opened — buyers were in control. Red (or black) means it closed lower — sellers were in control.
Two candles next to each other often tell you more than either one alone. A small candle sitting right after a huge one — sometimes called consolidation — can mean the market is pausing to "decide" before its next move, especially if it forms right at a level you were already watching.
Beginners sometimes try to memorise dozens of named candlestick patterns — doji, hammer, engulfing, and so on. You don't need to start there. Learning to read the simple relationship between a candle's body and its wicks, consistently, will take you further than memorising pattern names you can't yet explain.
Key takeaway
One candle is a tiny story: where price started, where it fought to reach, and where it ended up.
Example
A long green candle with almost no wicks means buyers were in control from open to close, no real fight from sellers. A long wick on top of a green candle means buyers pushed it up, but sellers showed up hard before the close.
Try this
Pull up any 1-hour chart. Find one candle with a long wick on top and one with a long wick on the bottom. Just point at them — you're training your eye, not analysing yet.
This lesson is part of the free TDWK Academy — 40 lessons from zero to funded trader, with progress tracking and a certificate exam.
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