What is a candlestick?
A candlestick is a visual representation of price movement during a specific time period. Each candle shows you four pieces of information: the Open price, the Close price, the High, and the Low.
By reading candlesticks, you can instantly understand what happened in the market during that period — without looking at any numbers.
Bullish (Green)
Price closed HIGHER than it opened. Buyers won.
Bearish (Red)
Price closed LOWER than it opened. Sellers won.
Key rule: Green candle = buyers were in control. Red candle = sellers were in control. The bigger the candle body, the stronger the move.
The anatomy of a candle
Every candlestick has two parts: the body and the wicks (also called shadows).
📦
The Body
The thick part of the candle. Shows the distance between open and close prices. A large body = strong momentum.
📏
Upper Wick
The thin line above the body. Shows the highest price reached. Long upper wick = sellers pushed price back down.
📐
Lower Wick
The thin line below the body. Shows the lowest price reached. Long lower wick = buyers pushed price back up.
Recognizing patterns gives you an edge in predicting where price will go next
5 patterns every beginner must know
These patterns appear regularly on charts and give strong signals about where price is headed next:
➕
Doji
Open and close are almost equal. Tiny body, long wicks. Signals market indecision — a reversal is likely coming.
🔨
Hammer
Small body at the top, very long lower wick. Appears after a downtrend. Strong signal that buyers are taking control — price may go UP.
⭐
Shooting Star
Small body at the bottom, very long upper wick. Appears after an uptrend. Sellers pushed back hard — price may go DOWN.
🟢
Bullish Engulfing
A large green candle completely covers the previous red candle. Very strong buy signal — bulls overwhelmed sellers.
🔴
Bearish Engulfing
A large red candle completely covers the previous green candle. Very strong sell signal — bears overwhelmed buyers.
How to use this on Stockity: Open any chart, switch to 1-minute or 5-minute candles, and look for hammer or doji patterns at support/resistance levels. These give you the clearest entry signals.
Timeframes — which one to use?
On Stockity you can switch between multiple timeframes. Each one tells a different story:
⚡
1 minute
Fast and exciting. Best for very short trades. More signals but also more noise — requires focus.
🎯
5 minutes
The sweet spot for beginners. Enough time to analyze but still fast results. Recommended starting point.
📊
15–60 minutes
More reliable signals, clearer trends. Good for confirming what you see on shorter timeframes.
Practice reading charts
Open Stockity's demo account and spend 10 minutes just watching candles form. You'll be amazed how quickly patterns become obvious.
Open Demo Account →
