A candlestick chart is a chart that plots the open, high, low, and close prices of an instrument over a chosen time period. Each candle on it covers one interval, such as one minute, one hour, one day, or one week.
Each candle has a body and a wick. The body spans the distance between the open and the close, and the wick, also called the shadow, marks the highest and lowest prices the instrument reached during that interval. A candle that closes above its open is bullish, and one that closes below its open is bearish.
A candlestick chart is the full series; a single candlestick is one bar within it. You read the chart for trend, momentum, and volatility across many intervals, and you read an individual candlestick for what happened in a single interval.
Candlestick chart Example
You open a 1-hour candlestick chart for GBP/USD. One candle on it shows four prices: