Reading candles together
Hook
NQ · 5-min practice chart
Learn more · the details, worked example and common mistakes
A single candle only covers its own five minutes. A move is usually several candles going the same way.
Body size is how far price got from open to close. Growing bodies show a move gaining speed; shrinking bodies show it losing speed.
Moves rarely go in a straight line. When a few candles go the other way, measure how much they gave back: a small part, about half, or all of it. Module 3 builds on exactly this.
Common mistakes
- Reading the last candle alone. One candle against a move doesn't tell you the move is over.
- Judging size by the whole candle. Compare the bodies; wicks can grow while bodies shrink.
- Treating speed as a forecast. Bodies show what happened, not what comes next.
From the trading desk
Traders often watch candle size during a move: growing candles suggest it has energy, shrinking ones that it may be tiring. That's a reading of what happened, never a promise.