Bodies, wicks and what they reveal about the fight between buyers and sellers — plus the handful of single candles worth memorising.
6 min read Chart Foundations
// key takeaways
▸ Body = open-to-close. Wick = the high and low extremes.
▸ Long wicks signal rejection; long bodies signal conviction.
▸ Context (where the candle prints) matters more than the candle itself.
// figure: anatomy of a candlestick
figure.svg
A bullish and a bearish candle — body (open→close) and wicks (high/low).
The four prices
A candlestick packs four data points into one shape: the open (where the period started), the close (where it ended), the high and the low. The body is drawn between open and close; the wicks stretch to the high and low.
What the shape tells you
› Long green body — strong buying, little selling pushback.
› Long red body — strong selling.
› Long lower wick (pin/hammer) — sellers pushed price down but buyers reclaimed it; potential rejection of lower prices.
› Long upper wick — buyers pushed up but sellers slammed it back; potential rejection of higher prices.
› Small body (doji) — indecision; open and close nearly equal.
Single candles worth knowing
The hammer (long lower wick at a low) and shooting star (long upper wick at a high) flag rejection. The engulfing candle — a body that fully covers the previous candle's body — signals a shift in control. None of these are signals on their own; they matter when they appear at a level or after an extended move.
// common mistakes
✕ Trading a hammer in the middle of nowhere — location is everything.
✕ Treating a single candle as a guaranteed reversal.
✕ Ignoring the close: intrabar spikes lie, closes tell the truth.
Frequently asked
See it live in the engine
TradrQuant scans 800+ markets for these structures 24/7 — free on Telegram.
Educational content only — not financial advice. Pattern statistics reference Thomas Bulkowski (thepatternsite.com) and published technical-analysis literature.
