Juan de las Tusas

Welcome to Day 4. To make winning trades, you must first understand what the charts are saying. Candlestick charts are the universal language of traders. Today, we'll learn to read them.
What is a Single Candlestick?
Each "candle" represents price action for a specific timeframe (e.g., 1 hour, 1 day). It tells you four crucial pieces of data:
Open: The price at the period's start.Close: The price at the period's end.High: The highest price reached.Low: The lowest price reached.
Anatomy Simplified:
The BODY: The thick part between open and close.GREEN/BULLISH Candle: Close > Open. Buying pressure won the period.RED/BEARISH Candle: Close < Open. Selling pressure won the period.The WICKS (or Shadows): The thin lines above and below the body. They show the full price range (high & low), indicating volatility and rejected prices.
Let's "Read" the Bitcoin Chart
Candle 1 (Green):Open: $61,000Close: $61,800High: $62,000 (long upper wick)Low: $60,900Story: Buyers pushed the price up from $61k to close at $61.8k (strong green body). However, the long wick to $62k shows sellers aggressively pushed the price back down from that level—it's a resistance area.Candle 2 (Red):Open: $61,800Close: $61,200High: $61,850 (tiny upper wick)Low: $60,800 (long lower wick)Story: Sellers took control, driving the price down from the open (red body). The long lower wick to $60.8k is crucial—it shows strong buying pressure stepped in at that level to reject the drop, pushing the price back up to close at $61.2k. $60.8k is acting as support.
Two Powerful Single-Candle Patterns to Know:
The Doji (The Indecision Candle):Looks like: A tiny body with long wicks (like a cross or plus sign).Meaning: The market opened and closed at almost the same price. Buyers and sellers are in equilibrium, indicating exhaustion and potential trend reversal.Context: A Doji after a long uptrend warns bulls are tired. A Doji after a downtrend suggests bears are losing steam.The Hammer (A Reversal Signal):Looks like: A small body at the top of the candle's range with a long lower wick (at least 2-3x the body).Meaning: Sellers pushed price down significantly, but buyers staged a strong comeback to close near the open. This is a potentially bullish reversal signal when found at the bottom of a downtrend.
Today's Actionable Insight: Don't just see colors. Read the story. A long wick tells you where price was rejected. The body tells you who won the battle (buyers or sellers) in that period.
Question for you: Go to your charting platform (TradingView is great). Look at any crypto chart—can you spot a long wick and guess what it meant? Share your observation below!
#Crypto #Trading #Day4