What are candlesticks ?

A candlestick chart is a style of bar-chart used primarily to describe price movements of an equity over time. It is a combination of a line-chart and a bar-chart, in that each bar represents the range of price movement over a given time interval.

How can i read a candlestick ?

Candlesticks are usually composed of the body (black or white), an upper and a lower shadow (wick). The wick illustrates the highest and lowest traded prices of a stock during the time interval represented. The body illustrates the opening and closing trades. If the stock closed higher than it opened, the body is white, with the opening price at the bottom of the body and the closing price at the top. If the stock closed lower than it opened, the body is black, with the opening price at the top and the closing price at the bottom. A candlestick need not have either a body or a wick.