Chart reading and candlesticks
Read price, volume, trends and common formations through their construction, context and limitations.
Browse the full library →How to Read a Price Chart
A price chart arranges observations over time. Read the instrument, interval, session, price scale and adjustment settings before interpreting its shape. Line charts, OHLC bars and candlesticks summarize the same market in different ways.
Concept explained · BeginnerSupport and Resistance
Support and resistance describe price areas where past declines or advances met a response. Analysts use these areas as reference points for interpreting later activity. They are observations and hypotheses about behavior, not barriers that prices must respect.
Concept explained · BeginnerTrends, Trendlines and Channels
Trend analysis describes the direction of a sequence of prices. Higher swing highs and lows describe an uptrend; lower ones describe a downtrend. Trendlines and channels organize selected reference points, with conclusions conditional on the interval and drawing rules.
Concept explained · BeginnerReading Volume Alongside Price
Trading volume counts shares or contracts exchanged during a stated interval. Reading volume alongside price adds information about activity, but volume alone does not identify investor intent, distinguish every participant or establish the direction of the next move.
Concept explained · BeginnerBreakouts and False Breakouts
A breakout is a move beyond a specified price boundary under a stated rule. A false breakout describes a move that subsequently fails under a stated failure rule. The later outcome is not known merely because the first crossing has occurred.
Concept explained · BeginnerCommon Chart Patterns
Double tops and bottoms, head-and-shoulders formations, triangles and flags are names for recurring arrangements of price swings. Recognizing the arrangement is different from establishing that its traditional interpretation has predictive value.
Concept explained · BeginnerRSI and MACD Explained
RSI and MACD summarize past price behavior using different calculations. RSI is a bounded momentum oscillator; MACD compares exponential moving averages. Their labels, crossings and divergences need stated settings and do not guarantee a reversal or profitable signal.
Concept explained · BeginnerHow to Read a Candlestick
A candlestick shows an interval’s open, high, low and close. The body spans the open and close; wicks reach the high and low. Read the platform’s color convention and the interval before interpreting the candle or assigning a pattern name.
Concept explained · BeginnerDoji and Spinning Tops
A doji has an open and close that are equal or very close. A spinning top has a small body with wicks on both sides. These shapes summarize limited net movement from open to close, not certainty about the next interval.
Concept explained · BeginnerHammer, Hanging Man and Shooting Star
Hammer-family and shooting-star-family candles combine a small body with one long wick. Their traditional names depend on the preceding move as well as the shape. They suggest interpretations to test; they do not establish that a reversal will follow.
Concept explained · BeginnerBullish and Bearish Engulfing Candles
An engulfing pattern compares two consecutive candle bodies: the second surrounds the first in the opposite direction. Bullish and bearish labels describe traditional reversal interpretations in context. Body engulfing is different from engulfing the entire high-to-low range.
Concept explained · BeginnerMorning and Evening Star Patterns
Morning and evening stars are three-candle formations traditionally interpreted as reversal candidates. They combine a longer first body, a small middle body and an opposite third body that penetrates the first. Trend context, gaps and completion rules matter.