Bodies and wicks tell a story

The length of the body shows how decisive the move of that period was. A long green body says price was carried firmly upward from open to close; a long red body is the same conviction pointing down. Short bodies mark periods where neither side gained the upper hand. A beginner's habit worth breaking early is reading colour as strength: a green candle with a short body describes a far less decisive period than a green candle with a long one — colour gives you the direction, body length gives you the conviction.

Wicks are prices that were tested but did not hold. A long upper wick shows that price pushed higher during the period, met selling pressure there, and came back down. A long lower wick tells the mirror story: buyers stepped in below and carried price back up.

A candle whose open and close are almost identical, with barely any body, is called a doji; it is the picture of indecision. But careful: a doji on its own does not mean the trend is turning. A candle's meaning depends on where it appears — and that question of "where" is exactly what levels 2 and 3 will teach you.