Wick

A wick, also called a shadow or tail, is the thin line extending above or below a candlestick's body, marking prices that traded during the period but where the candle did not close. The upper wick spans the distance from the top of the body to the period's high; the lower wick spans the bottom of the body to the low. Wicks record rejection: price visited those levels, but one side pushed it back before the period ended.

For example, if a daily Bitcoin candle opens at $60,000, spikes to $63,000 intraday, and closes at $60,400, it prints a long upper wick from $60,400 to $63,000 — evidence that sellers aggressively rejected the move toward $63,000. Conversely, a long lower wick at support, as in a hammer candle, shows buyers stepped in and reversed an intraday sell-off, which traders read as a sign of demand.

Wicks matter for level analysis too: some traders draw support and resistance from candle bodies, others from wick extremes, and stop-loss orders resting just beyond obvious wick lows are frequent targets of stop hunts. A common misconception is that a long wick by itself predicts reversal; its meaning depends entirely on location and context — a long lower wick at major support is significant, while the same wick mid-range is often just noise.