The beauty of candlesticks is that you can see the direction of price movements at a peek. Not only do you see if the candle as a whole is above or below the prior one, but you may also tell by the colors whether it marked a reversal or a continuation of the trend. In some cases naturally the open or close will be the high or the low. In that case you don’t have a wick in one or both directions. In another case, the opening and closing costs could have been the same. This is known as a Doji pattern. If the body of the candle is long with short or non existent wicks, close to Marubozu, this indicates a fairly steady movement, potentially part of a trend.

On the other hand if the wicks are long and the body is short or non existent, more like the Doji pattern, this can indicate a troubled market with big fluctuations. Trend based trading will tend to be suspicious of Doji patterns, which may be suggestive the market is beginning to become untrustworthy. Of course one candlestick on it’s own isn’t enough to form the foundation of a trading decision. For example, you can draw trend lines along the highest highs and lowest lows on candlestick charts. When you understand how to read candlestick charts you can base systems around these suggestions.