Candlesticks

Candlestick

Defined in 1 lesson · Updated October 17, 2026

Definition

A candlestick shows four prices for one period: the open, high, low and close. The body spans the open to the close and is usually green when price closed higher and red when it closed lower. Our guide on how to read candlesticks covers the common patterns.

Example

Say a stock’s daily candle opens at $40.00, trades as high as $42.50 and as low as $39.20, then closes at $41.80. The green body runs from $40.00 to $41.80, with thin lines reaching up to $42.50 and down to $39.20. Had the stock opened at $42.00 instead, the same $41.80 close would print a red candle, because the color compares the close with that candle’s own open.

Hypothetical numbers, for illustration only.

A 5-minute chart labeled with this section's terms: yesterday's last candle closes at $100 and today opens at $104, a gap; a dashed box around today's first three candles marks the opening range; volume bars sit underneath; and a magnifier zooms into one candle with a long upper wick to label the wick and the body. A note at the top: each candle is 5 minutes.

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