Candle anatomy — how to read a single bar
All 13 shapes a candle can take, and how the same shape means different things depending on volume.
Most patterns resolve their way only 50–60% of the time — nearly half miss.
A candle is drawn from four prices: open, high, low and close. The body spans open to close; the lines above and below are the wicks. The 13 forms below are every combination of those three parts, so any bar you meet lands in exactly one of them.
Shape alone is only half the read. The same long lower wick can mean buyers absorbed the selling, or simply that nobody was selling — volume is what separates the two. So each form is written up twice: once for heavy volume, once for light.
Tap any bar on a chart to see which form it is and how its volume compared with the 20-bar average.
1Four-price doji
Open, high, low and close are effectively one price — no body, no wicks.
Price did not move a single tick all session. Rare in normal trading; usually it means trading barely happened.
If volume was heavy
Heavy volume at one price can mean a limit lock or a one-sided book. The story is the size resting at that price, not the price.
If volume was light
Nobody wanted in or out. Common in thin names and around holidays, and there is almost nothing to read into it.
2Doji
Body is 10% of the range or less — open and close nearly equal.
Price travelled all day and came back to where it started. Buyers and sellers fought to a draw.
If volume was heavy
A lot of stock changed hands and still no direction emerged. Big participants met head-on, which is why a doji at the end of a trend is so often cited as a turning candidate.
If volume was light
It went nowhere because nobody traded it. Same shape, but this is indifference rather than tension, and it says far less.
3Dragonfly doji
Long lower wick (40%+ of range), effectively no upper wick.
Price was driven deep below and recovered all the way back to the open. Everything sold off was bought back the same day.
If volume was heavy
Real size backed that recovery, which reads as absorption. It carries more weight near a low.
If volume was light
It dipped and drifted back because few were selling. Less a show of buying strength than an absence of supply.
4Gravestone doji
Long upper wick, effectively no lower wick.
Price ran up and gave every bit of it back, closing at the open. Nobody defended the higher prices.
If volume was heavy
Supply hit the highs with real size behind it. Near a high it reads as distribution.
If volume was light
It faded for lack of buyers rather than a wave of selling — thin support, not heavy supply.
5Long-legged doji
Both wicks long (25%+ each), body almost nothing.
Price swung hard both ways and finished where it began. Both directions were tried and both failed.
If volume was heavy
Size collided on both sides, so this reads as a volatility flashpoint. At the end of a trend it can be the scramble just before direction changes.
If volume was light
A thin book can swing wide on very little. When the range is large but the volume is not, discount it accordingly.
6Marubozu
Body is 70%+ of the range with essentially no wicks.
The open was one extreme and the close was the other. Not once was the move pushed back.
If volume was heavy
Genuine flow stood behind that one direction. At a breakout it is the weight behind the break.
If volume was light
A thin book pushed one way. The shape looks strong, but with no size behind it the move is easily given back.
7Belt hold
Large body with no wick on the **opening** side — the open was the session's extreme.
From the opening price it never traded against the move. Direction was set the moment the bell rang.
If volume was heavy
Size followed that opening direction, so the session's verdict can be taken more or less at face value.
If volume was light
It moved off the open but nothing backed it up. Common after a gap that simply drifted without a retrace.
8Long body
Body is 70%+ of the range but some wick remains.
Most of the session went one way. The short wick is where the other side tried and failed.
If volume was heavy
Direction and participation agree — this pairing is what textbooks mean by a meaningful large bar.
If volume was light
A big move on light participation. Price was relocated more than it was traded, so the next bar's confirmation matters.
9Long lower wick
Mid-sized body with a lower wick at least twice the body.
Price was pushed well down intraday and recovered much of it by the close — someone bought the lower prices.
If volume was heavy
That buying carried size, which reads as absorption. Near support or a low it carries more weight.
If volume was light
It floated back up because selling dried up. Same shape, weaker evidence that anyone stepped in.
10Long upper wick
Mid-sized body with an upper wick at least twice the body.
Price ran up intraday and gave much of it back — not enough hands to hold the highs.
If volume was heavy
The fade carried size, so supply showed up. Near a high or resistance it reads as a warning.
If volume was light
It slid back for want of buyers, which is a different story from sellers dumping.
11Spinning top
Small body with both wicks longer than the body.
Price tried both directions and finished near where it started. No verdict.
If volume was heavy
Plenty traded and the price still went nowhere — that is churn, ownership changing hands. Mid-trend it is often cited as the handover.
If volume was light
A session spent watching. Neither price nor volume concluded anything, so the next bar decides.
12Short bar
The whole range is 35% or less of the recent average range.
Price barely moved all session. No weight went either way.
If volume was heavy
Size concentrated into a narrow range means stock changed hands right there. The longer the contraction, the larger the expansion that tends to follow.
If volume was light
Price and participation both asleep. A textbook volatility contraction — the bar that escapes it is the one to watch.
13Ordinary bar
Fits none of the above — a mid-sized body with proportionate wicks.
Nothing distinctive. Most candles land here, and one of them on its own does not say much.
If volume was heavy
Plain shape, but size behind it puts weight on the direction. On an ordinary bar, volume is the only clue there is.
If volume was light
Ordinary shape, ordinary volume. Bars like this read better in groups than one at a time.
Where the lines are drawn
A body of 10% of the range or less is a doji form; 70% or more is a long-body form; anything between is mid-bodied. A wick counts as absent below 8% of the range and long above 40%. Volume is heavy at 1.5x the trailing 20-bar average and light below 0.8x.
This page is a dictionary for reading one bar. The named signals you can set alerts on (hammer, engulfing and the rest) are a separate list — the same long lower wick is a hammer at the end of a decline and a hanging man at the end of a rally, because position decides the name.
See the named candle signals →