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Candlestick appearance

Japanese candlesticks are formed using OPEN, CLOSE, HIGH and LOW for the price at specific time.

(When we say "specific time", we mean time measure (time frame) that a trader has chosen to trade in. For example, a trader can trade hourly charts, daily charts, weekly etc. When trading hourly charts, for example, each candlestick will represent 1 hour, which means it will be formed based on data collected during one hour period).

Here are examples of different time frames describing same data:

Now let's go back to candlesticks.
We have met this picture earlier, but now let's learn some further details about it.

The major part of the candlestick is its body which represents a range between OPEN and CLOSE prices.
When OPEN for the price is above CLOSE, a candlestick body is filled.
When OPEN for the price is below CLOSE, a candlestick body is hollow.

Bodies can be colored at trader's choice. One of the common set up which we are also going to use for our charts is "red and green". So, "red" will stay for filled candlestick giving a signal that price has dropped, and green will stay for hollow giving a signal that price has gone up.

Also we can see price SHADOWS — the extensions above and below the candle body. The very top of the shadow above is called HIGH, the very bottom of the shadow below is called LOW.

A bullish or a bearish candlestick... What does that mean?

These terms describe two opposing forces on the market: bulls are traders who push the price up, and bears — they pull price down.
So, when the price confidently climbs up — bulls are winning the game and the market therefore is called "bullish market", when the price is falling down — bears are taking over — bearish market.