How to read candlestick charts on TradingView

Read the body and wicks from four prices

A standard candle closes up when its close exceeds its open and down when its close is below its open. Color is a display setting: TradingView can also color candles against the previous close. Check that setting before calling a green candle an up candle. The formulas below use price units, not percentages.

Check the TradingView chart before reading its candles

Choose Candles from the chart-type menu. The official TradingView screenshot below shows SILVER with a 1W interval: each candle spans a trading week. It is a reference image, not a current quote or a Pineify analysis result. The open menu obscures some bars, so use the unobstructed candles to its right for the following observations.

• The tall green candle immediately before the highest visible wick closes above its open. Its body covers much of its range.
• The next tall red candle has a long upper wick. Price reached well above its body, then closed below its open. The wick alone does not identify who traded or why.
• The following red candle has a smaller body and a long lower wick. Its close remains below its open despite a recovery from the low.
• Read exact OHLC values from the original chart rather than estimating decimals from the screenshot. These observations do not establish a profitable trade.

A three-candle example you can calculate

These are hypothetical consecutive 15-minute candles in an instrument quoted in dollars. They are separate from the official screenshot. All three are closed. For candle A, the body is $3, the upper wick is $1 and the lower wick is $2. Candle B is down despite making a higher high. Candle C closes where it opened, but still trades across a $4 range.

• OHLC does not reveal whether a candle reached its high before its low. Different intrabar paths can produce the same candle.
• A doji records little or no open-to-close change. It does not prove that a reversal will follow.

Timeframe and chart type change what you are reading

Reading candlestick charts requires a consistent data context. A 5-minute candle and a daily candle summarize different intervals. Changing the exchange, session or chart type can also change the bars. No interval is inherently a reliable predictor simply because its candles look cleaner.

• The rightmost live candle is unfinished. Its high, low and close can change until the interval ends; a visible pattern can disappear before then.
• Heikin Ashi candles use calculated prices. Their body and wick values are not the same as standard OHLC and should not be treated as executable prices.
• A gap between one close and the next open is possible. Do not assume every candle opens exactly where the last one closed.
• Keep the ticker, exchange, timeframe and session visible when saving a chart for later review. Record whether the last candle had closed.

Separate a candle, a pattern and an order

Understanding candlestick charts starts with describing what happened. A named formation adds a rule across one or more bars. A trading plan needs further conditions, including entry timing, invalidation, position size and costs. Calling a shape bullish does not fill those gaps.

Use AI chart analysis as a reading aid

Pineify Chart Analysis accepts PNG, JPEG and WebP screenshots up to 3 MiB. The uploaded image is sent for model analysis, which returns structured text about visible context, levels, risks and uncertainties. Account usage limits apply. A screenshot is not a live price feed or a verified OHLC export, and a model confidence score is not an established probability of profit.

• Use the TradingView camera menu to save a snapshot. Keep axes, symbol, timeframe and enough preceding candles visible; remove account details before uploading.
• Compare each reported pattern with the candle prices on your source chart. Cropped scales, tiny candles or overlapping drawings can make the interpretation ambiguous.
• Check suggested levels and any Buy/Sell label manually. The image analysis does not demonstrate that a rule has passed a historical backtest.

Turn a precise observation into a completed-bar rule

This Pine Script example marks one explicit body-engulfing definition on standard candles: a previous down body, a current up body and inclusive coverage of the previous body. It requires current volume above its 20-bar average and a completed current bar. Missing volume or an unavailable average suppresses the marker. This is a recognition example, not a reversal forecast or a strategy with orders. Create a TradingView alert separately and use Once Per Bar Close.

//@version=6
indicator("Closed-bar body engulfing with volume", overlay=true)

previousDown = close[1] < open[1]
currentUp = close > open
bodyEngulfing = previousDown and currentUp and open <= close[1] and close >= open[1]
volumeAverage = ta.sma(volume, 20)
hasVolume = not na(volume) and not na(volumeAverage)
volumePasses = hasVolume and volume > volumeAverage
confirmedPattern = barstate.isconfirmed and bodyEngulfing and volumePasses

plotshape(confirmedPattern, title="Confirmed body engulfing", style=shape.labelup, location=location.belowbar, color=color.blue, text="ENG", textcolor=color.white)
alertcondition(confirmedPattern, title="Confirmed body engulfing", message="Closed-bar body engulfing with volume above its 20-bar average.")