Candlestick patterns: single candles and what they show

A single candle shows the fight between buyers and sellers in one period. Learn what its parts and shapes can tell you, and what they cannot.

A candle has a body and two wicks. The body is the thick part. It runs from the open to the close. The wicks are the thin lines above and below the body. They mark the high and the low of the period.

A rising candle has a close above its open. A falling candle has a close below its open. The diagram shows both. The body is often drawn in two colours to show the two cases.

The open is the first price of the period. The close is the last. The high is the top of the upper wick. The low is the bottom of the lower wick. These six points are the chart anatomy you see on every candle.

What a single candle can tell

A long body shows that one side was in control for most of the period. A short body shows that control was weak or shared. A long upper wick shows that price went up but sellers pushed it back. A long lower wick shows the opposite.

A doji has a very small body. It shows that open and close were close together. It can mark a pause or a balance between buyers and sellers. It does not say which side will win next.

A hammer has a small body near the top and a long lower wick. It can show that sellers pushed price down and buyers brought it back. A spinning top has a small body and two wicks of similar length. It can show indecision. These shapes describe one period only.

What a single candle cannot tell

One candle cannot show the trend. It cannot show support or resistance. It cannot show what will happen next. A hammer in a strong fall and a hammer in a flat market are not the same thing.

A single candle is one piece of data. A pattern needs context: the candles before it, the time frame, and the level where it forms. Without that context, the shape is just a shape.

Risk is always present in trading. A candle does not remove that risk. It only describes what already happened in one period. Treat it as information, not as a promise.

How to study these shapes

Start on a demo chart with a fixed time frame. Pick one shape, such as the doji. Mark every doji you see for a week. Write what happened after each one. Do not trade it.

Then compare the same shape in a rising market and a falling market. Notice how often it appears and how often it fails. This builds your own picture of what the shape can and cannot do.

Keep a simple notebook or a single page you can print. A short single-candle pattern pdf of your own notes is more useful than a long list you never read. Learn one shape well before you add another.

Words with a dotted underline open their explanation in the glossary.