Price Chart Basics: Candlesticks, Volume and Ranges

OHLC: the four numbers in every candle

Every price chart is built from the same four numbers measured over a chosen period — whether that is one minute, one hour or one day:

• Open — the price at the start of the period
• High — the highest price reached during the period
• Low — the lowest price reached during the period
• Close — the price at the end of the period

These four values together are called OHLC data. Every candlestick, bar or line chart is just a different way of displaying them. The spot price you see on a coin page is the most recent close (or the current live price in the case of an intraday view).

The candlestick

The candlestick is the most common way to display OHLC data. Each candle has two parts:

• The body — a rectangle from the open to the close. If the close was higher than the open, the body is typically green (a rising period). If the close was lower, it is typically red (a falling period).
• The wicks (or shadows) — thin lines above and below the body showing how far the price travelled beyond the open-to-close range. A long upper wick means buyers pushed the price up but sellers brought it back down before the period closed. A long lower wick means the reverse.

The wicks show the range of emotions during a period. A small body with long wicks signals indecision: the price explored a wide range but ended near where it started.

What volume tells you

Trading volume is the total value traded over a period. It is usually shown as a bar chart beneath the price chart. High volume means many participants were involved in the move; low volume means relatively few.

Volume is most useful as a sanity check on price moves. A sharp price move accompanied by high volume suggests real conviction from many traders. The same move on near-zero volume could be a single large order in a thin market — less meaningful and easier to reverse. No volume signal is a guarantee; it is one lens among several.

The all-time high and recent range

The all-time high (ATH) is the highest price an asset has ever reached. Charts will sometimes draw a horizontal reference line at this level because many traders watch it: at a new ATH, every holder is in profit, removing one source of overhead selling pressure.

The recent range — over 30 days, 90 days or a year — frames where today’s price sits in recent history. A price near the top of its annual range is not automatically expensive, and one near the bottom is not automatically cheap. The range describes where the price has been, not where it will go.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Mistaking patterns for predictions. Chart patterns like "head and shoulders" or "double top" are descriptions of past shape, not reliable forecasts. Markets break patterns constantly.
• Confusing a low price with a cheap price. A coin at $0.001 is not cheap just because of the price. Market cap, not unit price, is the measure of size.
• Ignoring the time frame. A chart that looks like a strong uptrend on a one-hour view might be a tiny bounce inside a longer downtrend. Always check multiple time frames.
• Reading chart signals as certainties. Every chart signal is a probability at best. Even experienced technical analysts are wrong a large fraction of the time.

Where to apply this on TheWeal

Every coin page on TheWeal carries an interactive price chart. Use the time-range buttons (7D, 30D, 90D, 1Y) to shift perspective, and look at the volume bars alongside price moves to see whether a trend has broad participation or is thinning out. The methodology page explains how our prediction model treats the price history you are reading.

• Volume (24h) — what 24-hour volume measures
• Volatility — why some charts look wild
• All-time high (ATH) — what the record price does and does not tell you
• Spot price — the live price vs contract prices
• Reading a prediction — how TheWeal uses price history to build scenarios

Educational content only. Not financial advice. Chart reading is a skill with significant room for error. Nothing here is a recommendation to buy or sell any asset.