Candle wick
Also called: Wick, Shadow, Upper wick, Lower wick, Tail, Fitil
A wick is the thin line above or below a candle's body; it marks prices reached during the candle that were pushed back.
4 min read · one puzzle on the page
What does a wick tell you?
A candle's body spans the open and the close. The wick is everything outside it: price got there during the candle but couldn't stay. A wick records a visit, not a stay.
An upper wick means buyers pushed price up and sellers pushed it back. A lower wick is the reverse. Say a 15-minute gold candle opens at 2,412, trades up to 2,421 and closes at 2,414. The stretch from 2,414 to 2,421 is the upper wick, the area where sellers showed up.
Drop to a lower timeframe and the wick makes more sense. A single long upper wick on M15 is usually, on M1, a quick push up followed by a sharp sell-off. It's a small story squeezed into one line.
Some candles are named after their wicks. At the bottom of a decline, a long lower wick under a small body is a hammer; at the top of a rally, a long upper wick over a small body is a shooting star. The names help, but the question is always the same: where did price go, where was it pushed back, and where did it close?
Which wicks mean something and which are noise?
Compare a wick with two things: its own body and the last few candles. A wick two or three times the body, longer than a typical candle of the past ten, stands out. Short wicks on every candle are ordinary price noise.
Then look at where it is, because a candle's meaning is where it stands. A long upper wick that pokes above a prior high and closes back below it says the stops above that high were taken and price was rejected. That's a liquidity sweep. The same wick in the middle of a range, touching nothing, says far less.
Use the next candle as confirmation. If price closes below the base of the wick after the sweep, the rejection is holding. If price climbs back into the wick and closes above it, the first read was wrong.
Your stop logically sits beyond the far end of the wick. Selling after an upper wick, the stop goes a little above its tip, because a return there means the idea is invalid. If the tip is 20 pips from your entry, 1R is 20 pips; set your target from that.
Try it on a chart
One candle matters most on this chart: the one that reaches above the prior high and closes back below it. Compare the wick with its body and its position with that high before you decide.
The liquidity above the previous high was swept; the candle closed back below the high with a long upper wick. What's your call?
No sign-up needed. Make your call; when the chart opens you'll see why.
The usual wick mistakes
The most common is treating a wick as a break. If price wicks above resistance and closes below it, resistance hasn't broken; it has been swept. The close decides a break. A wick only says price tested the area.
Second is putting the stop exactly at the wick's tip or a pip above it. Everyone does the same, so stops cluster there and the next move often takes that cluster. Place it a bit further out, where the structure really fails, and cut your size if the distance grows.
Third is judging before the candle closes. A long wick on a live candle can turn into body by the close. A wick that formed in the first five minutes of a 15-minute candle isn't a wick yet.
When do wicks mislead?
Around news. On a major data release price can wick hard in both directions. Those wicks don't show a level being defended, just liquidity disappearing for a moment, and reading meaning into them is hard.
Quiet hours inflate wicks too. In the overnight session or on holidays a handful of orders can print a long wick that would mean much more in busy hours.
In a strong trend one opposing wick is rarely a reversal. Rising markets throw long upper wicks one after another and still make new highs. Don't read a wick on its own; read it with the level, the structure and the next close.
Frequently asked questions
What does a long upper wick mean?
It means price traded higher during the candle but sellers pushed it back down. If it forms above a prior high or resistance and closes back below, the stops above that level were likely taken and buyers couldn't hold. A long wick in the middle of a range, touching no level, is a much weaker signal. Wait for the next candle's close before deciding.
Is a wick the same as a shadow?
Yes. Wick, shadow and tail all mean the thin line outside a candle's body, reaching to the highest or lowest price traded during that candle. The one on top is the upper wick, the one below is the lower wick. The body covers open to close; the wick shows prices that were reached but not held.
Is a breakout judged by the wick or the close?
By the close. If price wicks beyond a level and closes back inside, the level hasn't broken, it has been swept, and many false breakouts start exactly like that. A break needs the candle body to close beyond the level. More cautious traders also want the next candle to stay there, or a return to the level that holds: a retest.
