Wick
Technical analysisAlso called: Shadow
The thin lines above and below a candle body, marking the high and low of the period.
In plain terms
The prices that were reached and then rejected.
1492 terms
Glossary
Every term is defined twice: once the way a filing would put it, and once the way somebody would explain it to you across a table. The second one is usually the one that sticks.
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Candlestick
Technical analysisAlso called: Candlestick chart
A chart element showing open, high, low and close for one period, with a coloured body and wicks.
In plain terms
Four numbers turned into a shape you can read at a glance.
Freak trade
Technical analysisA trade concluded far away from the prevailing price because an order exhausted a thin order book, leaving a long wick that is a real, settled print rather than a data error.
In plain terms
Nothing malfunctioned — a market order simply ran out of rungs to match against and took the last one it could reach. It triggers stops on the way past and stays in the price history for good.
Hammer
Technical analysisA candle with a small body near the top and a long lower wick, appearing after a decline.
In plain terms
Sellers pushed price down and buyers took it all back. Bullish — after confirmation.
Hanging man
Technical analysisA candle with a small body and a long lower wick appearing after an advance — the same shape as a hammer, read bearishly because of what preceded it.
In plain terms
The clearest demonstration that context supplies all the meaning. The candle is identical to a hammer; only the preceding trend differs, and the implication inverts.
Inverted hammer
Technical analysisA candle with a small body near the bottom of its range and a long upper wick, appearing after a decline.
In plain terms
The same shape as a shooting star, read the other way because of what came before. Cautiously bullish, and worth nothing until the next candle confirms.
Marubozu
Technical analysisA candle that is almost entirely body, with little or no wick at either end.
In plain terms
One side held control from open to close and nothing was rejected. As with every candle, the preceding context supplies the meaning.
Shooting star
Technical analysisA candle with a small body near the bottom and a long upper wick, appearing after an advance.
In plain terms
Buyers ran it up and got sold into. Bearish — after confirmation.
Three white soldiers
Technical analysisThree consecutive long green candles, each opening inside the previous body and closing near its own high with small upper wicks.
In plain terms
Emerging from a long dull base it is a trend starting. Arriving after a two-month run, with each candle smaller than the last and upper wicks lengthening, it is the last buyers rather than the first.
Candle close
Technical analysisAlso called: Closed candle, Candle completion
The final price of the period a candle represents, and the only value on a live candle that is not still provisional.
In plain terms
The open is fixed and the extremes only widen, but the close keeps moving — so the body can flip colour and a wick can vanish entirely before the bell. Every candlestick pattern is defined on closed candles.
Indicative NAV
Market basicsAlso called: iNAV
The value of an exchange-traded fund’s underlying basket, computed and disseminated at short intervals during the session, as distinct from the price its units are changing hands at.
In plain terms
An ETF has two prices at once and your chart draws only the traded one. Comparing the two is the fastest way to tell whether a wick was information or a dislocation.
Reversal
Technical analysisA change in the prevailing direction of price.
In plain terms
Judge it on closing prices, not on wicks. Intraday probes through obvious levels are routine.