Reading a single candle
Each candle tells a story between two timestamps. The body shows where price opened and closed; the wicks show how far it pushed before reverting.
- →Green body — closed higher than it opened (bullish session)
- →Red body — closed lower than it opened (bearish session)
- →Long wick — buyers or sellers were rejected at the extreme
- →Small body, long wicks — indecision
The four highest-signal patterns
Out of dozens of named patterns, these four pay rent.
- →Doji — open ≈ close. Indecision. Most useful at support/resistance after a trend.
- →Hammer — small body, long lower wick. Sellers pushed down, buyers reclaimed. Bullish at support.
- →Shooting star — small body, long upper wick. Mirror of hammer. Bearish at resistance.
- →Engulfing — second candle's body fully covers the previous candle. Strong momentum shift, especially after a trend.
Context is everything
Patterns work because of where they appear, not because of their shape alone. A hammer at a major support level after a 10% drop is meaningful; a hammer in the middle of nowhere is noise.