Introduction
The Moment the Chart Starts to Speak
Before structure forms, before trends unfold,
before Smart Money reveals intent,
there is the candle.
The Candle is the alphabet of price.
Every wick, every body, every close
is a piece of dialogue
between buyers, sellers, and the invisible hand
guiding liquidity.
To the untrained eye, it’s color and shape.
To the informed trader, a candle is a confession.
What Is a Candle?
The Definition:
📊 A Candle represents a unit of price movement
within a chosen time frame,
1 minute, 5 minutes, 1 hour, 1 day.
It contains four key pieces of information:
- Open
- High
- Low
- Close
But in Smart Money Concepts,
a candle is more than data,
it’s intention visualised.
💬 In simple terms:
A candle shows who controlled price during that moment in time.
📍 It’s not just a bar, it’s a story.
Why Candles Matter
Candles matter because they:
- Reveal the strength or weakness of a move
- Show rejection, aggression, or absorption
- Confirm displacement and direction
- Build the structure Smart Money trades within
- Expose liquidity behavior through wicks
💡 Every candle is a footprint,
and Smart Money never steps without reason.
How Retail Traders Use Candles Properly
1️⃣ Identify body size to confirm displacement
2️⃣ Use wick behavior to detect liquidity grabs
3️⃣ Wait for candle closes to confirm bias
4️⃣ Mark imbalances created by large-bodied candles
5️⃣ Journal candle characteristics around key events
📍 A single candle doesn’t tell the truth,
a candle in context does.
Example
How Candles Reveal Intention
Price sweeps a low,
leaving a long wick into a discount zone.
The next candle prints
a strong bullish body,
closing above the previous high.
Then a smaller candle forms,
pulling back into imbalance,
setting up continuation.
💬 Retail sees color.
Smart Money sees sequence.
The Do Nots
Common Mistakes Traders Make
❌ Trading single candles without context
❌ Ignoring wick manipulation around liquidity
❌ Misreading small candles in volatile sessions
❌ Entering before the candle closes
❌ Not tracking candle behavior by time of day
💬
The candle you misunderstand today
becomes the signature you master tomorrow.
Final Thoughts
A candle is the market’s voice.
It whispers through wicks,
speaks through bodies,
and declares truth through its close.
Smart Money leaves their message
in every candle they shape,
and reading those messages
is the beginning of mastery.
Because true trading wisdom
isn’t memorising candle patterns,
it’s understanding what the candle is saying.