Glossary
Chart reading glossary
Plain-English definitions of the patterns, levels, and risk terms you will meet in the ChartsQuest curriculum.
Candles
Candles
Candlestick
A candlestick is a single bar that shows open, high, low, and close for a time period so you can read price movement at a glance.
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Candles
Doji
A doji is a candle whose open and close are nearly equal, producing a tiny body that often signals indecision rather than a clear directional win for buyers or sellers.
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Candles
Hammer
A hammer is a candle with a small body near the top of its range and a long lower wick, often watched after a decline as a possible sign that sellers were rejected.
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Candles
Hanging man
A hanging man looks like a hammer but appears after an advance, warning that the auction briefly traded much lower even though it closed near the highs.
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Candles
Engulfing
An engulfing pattern is a two-candle sequence where the second candle's body fully covers the first candle's body, suggesting a shift in short-term control.
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Candles
Shooting star
A shooting star is a candle with a small body near the low of its range and a long upper wick, often studied after an advance as a sign that higher prices were rejected.
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Candles
Morning star
A morning star is a three-candle sequence after a decline: a weak candle, a small indecision candle, then a strong up candle that recovers a meaningful part of the first decline.
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Candles
Evening star
An evening star is a three-candle sequence after an advance: a strong up candle, a small indecision candle, then a strong down candle that gives back a meaningful part of the first advance.
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Candles
OHLC
OHLC stands for open, high, low, and close—the four prices that summarize how a market traded during a chosen time period.
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Patterns
Patterns
Bull flag
A bull flag is a continuation-style pause after a sharp rise: a brief downward or sideways drift that may resolve with another advance if the prior uptrend structure remains intact.
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Patterns
Bear flag
A bear flag is a continuation-style pause after a sharp decline: a brief upward or sideways drift that may resolve with another decline if the prior downtrend structure remains intact.
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Patterns
Head and shoulders
A head and shoulders is a three-swing topping pattern with left shoulder, higher head, and right shoulder, often studied as a potential transition from uptrend to weaker structure.
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Patterns
Inverse head and shoulders
An inverse head and shoulders is a three-swing basing pattern with left shoulder, lower head, and right shoulder, often studied as a potential transition from downtrend to stronger structure.
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Patterns
Wedge
A wedge is a contracting swing pattern where converging trendlines show price compressing; rising and falling wedges are studied as possible continuation or transition structures depending on context.
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Levels
Levels
Support
Support is a price area where buying interest has previously slowed or reversed a decline, so learners watch it as a potential demand zone—not a floor that must hold.
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Levels
Resistance
Resistance is a price area where selling interest has previously slowed or reversed an advance, watched as a potential supply zone—not a ceiling that must hold.
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Levels
Breakout
A breakout is a move in which price leaves a well-defined range or level with enough acceptance that the old boundary may no longer contain the market.
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Levels
False breakout
A false breakout is a move beyond a level or range that quickly fails, with price returning inside the prior boundary and trapping breakout followers.
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Trends
Trends
Trend
A trend is the market's persistent directional bias over a chosen timeframe, commonly summarized as higher highs and higher lows, or lower highs and lower lows.
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Trends
Uptrend
An uptrend is a rising market structure typically marked by a sequence of higher highs and higher lows on the timeframe you are studying.
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Trends
Downtrend
A downtrend is a falling market structure typically marked by a sequence of lower highs and lower lows on the timeframe you are studying.
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Trends
Range
A range is a sideways market where swing highs and swing lows overlap between roughly defined support and resistance boundaries for a period of balance.
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Risk
Risk
Invalidation
Invalidation is the pre-defined price condition that proves a chart idea wrong, so you can update the hypothesis instead of defending a broken story.
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Risk
Stop-loss
A stop-loss is a pre-planned exit level designed to limit damage when a chart idea is wrong, tied conceptually to invalidation rather than hope.
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Risk
Risk-reward
Risk-reward compares how much you are prepared to lose if wrong with how much you might gain if the idea works, used to evaluate whether a setup is worth practicing—not to promise profits.
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Risk
Position sizing
Position sizing is choosing how large a position to take so that a loss to your invalidation level stays within a predefined risk budget.
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Structure
Structure
Swing high
A swing high is a local peak where price made a high with lower highs on both sides, used to map market structure and potential resistance references.
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Structure
Swing low
A swing low is a local trough where price made a low with higher lows on both sides, used to map market structure and potential support references.
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Structure
Volume
Volume measures how much changed hands during a period and can add context to price moves—participation rising, fading, or diverging from the candle story.
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Structure
Liquidity
Liquidity describes how easily size can be exchanged without large price impact, and on charts it often refers to pools of resting orders around obvious highs, lows, and levels.
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