A candlestick shows four prices for a time period in a single shape: the open, high, low, and close. The thick part - the body - spans the open and close; the thin lines - the wicks or shadows - reach to the high and low. Green (or hollow) means it closed up; red (or filled) means it closed down.

What the body tells you

The body shows who won the period. A long body means one side dominated open-to-close; a tiny body means buyers and sellers fought to a draw. A series of long green bodies is momentum; a cluster of tiny bodies is indecision, often near a level where the market is deciding what to do next.

What the wicks tell you

Wicks are where price went but could not stay. A long lower wick means sellers pushed price down but buyers slammed it back up - a rejection of lower prices. A long upper wick is the reverse. Rejection wicks at a key level are among the more useful single-bar tells, because they show real-time failure of one side to hold ground.

The body is who won. The wicks are where the loser tried - and failed - to take control.

Patterns are context, not prophecy

Named patterns - dojis, hammers, engulfings - are just recurring body-and-wick shapes with sensible stories behind them. They are worth knowing, but they are probabilistic hints, not signals. A hammer at major support with rising volume means something; the same shape mid-range in dead volume means little. Read candles alongside VWAP, volume, and structure - never in isolation.