Bullish candle, bearish candle

A candle's direction comes from a single comparison: where did the close finish relative to the open? If the close is above the open, the candle is a bullish candle, usually drawn green; if the close is below the open, it is a bearish candle, usually red. On a bullish candle the open is the bottom edge of the body and the close the top edge; on a bearish candle the two swap places.

The wicks play no part in that comparison. The tip of the upper wick marks the highest price of the period and the tip of the lower wick the lowest; whichever way the candle points, the wick tips are the extremes of the period, not of the body. Mistaking the close for a wick tip is the most common beginner misread — price reached that level, but it did not close there.

The close earns this attention for a reason: until the period ends, the candle has not decided what it will say, and the close is the period's last word. But the last word does not describe the inside of the period. A bullish candle never says "price did not dip all period" — the lower wick is exactly the trace of that dip — and it never says "no sellers are left"; every trade has both a buyer and a seller. A candle only tells you where the period began and where it ended.