Read the body first
The real body spans the open and close. In the diagrams here, an outlined body means the close is above the open, and a filled body means the close is below it. Other charts may use different colors or fill rules, so check their legend. When the two values are equal, the body can appear as a horizontal line.
The shadows, also called wicks, extend from the body to the high and low. Read the whole vertical distance from high to low as the price range. The body measures a different thing: how far apart the opening and closing prices were. A short body can still sit within a wide range.
Put the period in context
A candle belongs to a period, such as an hour or a day. Changing the chart interval groups the observations differently. A daily candle can combine price moves that appear as several separate candles on a shorter chart. The candle for a period still in progress can change as additional prices arrive.
In the diagram, the close is above the open, while the high sits above both. The upper wick shows the distance from the close to the high. It does not tell us whether the high occurred before or after the low.
Common misunderstanding
A candle is a summary of observed prices, so its shape alone cannot establish what the next candle will show. A long wick describes a distance in the period’s range. It does not identify who placed orders, how much traded, or the order of every price movement. Use the candle to read the four values before interpreting a sequence.