How to read a candle chart
A candle chart shows a coin's price over time, one candle per period: 15 minutes, an hour, 4 hours, a day or a week. Each candle packs four prices into one shape.
One candle, four prices
- Open: the price when the period started.
- Close: the price when it ended (or now, for the candle still forming).
- High and low: the furthest it reached either way, shown by the thin line (the wick).
The thick part (the body) runs from open to close. On CheckACoin, a mint candle closed higher than it opened and an amber one closed lower. Many apps use green and red; we use colours that differ in brightness too, so they're easier to tell apart.
Why our numbers can differ from an exchange's
- An exchange's “24h high and low” covers the last 24 hours, rolling. A daily candle is a calendar day in UTC.
- Prices come from one exchange's market for the coin; another exchange's price can differ slightly. The chart names the pair and the exchange.
- Weeks start on Monday, in UTC.
Reading it honestly
Candles show what happened. Patterns in them are often given names and stories, but on their own they say little about what happens next. Use them to see how a coin has moved, and set your own prices from that.
Every coin page shows its usual range, typical moves, market cap and supply, rebuilt daily.
Explore the market