Japanese Candlestick Chart

Candlestick Chart, or Japanese Candlesticks, is a type of financial charts showing price movements, and more precisely a modification of OHLC Chart.

Candlesticks in Candlestick Charts typically consist of the body (or real body) — it's the area between the opening and closing prices, filled with color or hollow — and the upper and lower shadows also called wicks or tails — these graphically represent price fluctuations by displaying the highest and lowest traded prices of a financial instrument within a given time interval, depicted as lines above and below the body respectively.

If the security, derivative, or any other financial instrument under consideration closed higher than it opened, the body of the corresponding candle is usually white, green, or empty, representing the opening price at the bottom of the body and the closing price at the top. If the market closed lower than it opened, the body is black, red, or filled with another color, indicating the opening price at the top and the closing price at the bottom.

Depending on the performance of stocks and other instruments within a certain period of time, Japanese Candlesticks might lack body or wicks.

Like in Line Charts, the timeline scale is the most common case for the X axis in Candelstick Charts.