Reading Charts: First Steps
Candle anatomy, timeframes, and volume fundamentals.
Candle anatomy
One candle shows the open, high, low, and close of a fixed period. The body spans open to close; the wicks mark the period's extremes. Reading buying and selling pressure from the relative size of bodies and wicks is where technical analysis begins.
Timeframes
The same asset can look completely different on hourly versus daily candles. Shorter timeframes carry more noise; longer ones respond slowly. Analysts commonly examine multiple timeframes together.
The role of volume
Volume shows how much trading occurred in a period. Price moves accompanied by heavy volume tend to be read as more reliable, while low-volume spikes are often observed to lack follow-through.
Charts record the past
A chart is a record of what already happened — it guarantees nothing about the future. Treating technical analysis as a probabilistic reference tool is the mainstream view.
Note
This lesson is educational material explaining chart components.
This educational content explains concepts for informational purposes — it is not investment advice or a recommendation to take any action.