A chart bar showing the open, high, low, and close for one period, with a body and wicks.
The parts of a candlestick. One candle sums up a slice of time: the thick real body runs from the opening price to the closing price, and the thin wicks reach out to the highest and lowest prices traded. Colour tells you which way the body ran.
Each candle summarizes one timeframe period. The body spans open to close; the thin lines above and below, called wicks, mark the high and low. A close above the open is usually drawn green or white; a close below is red or black.
Candles are the most common way traders read price. Named patterns such as the doji and engulfing-candle describe particular body-and-wick shapes, but a candle is only information about one period; it is not a forecast.
Example: a daily candle opens at $50.00, trades as high as $52.40 and as low as $49.10, and closes at $51.80. The body is $50.00 to $51.80, with a $0.60 upper wick and a $0.90 lower wick.