Candlestick charts are an effective way to study the emotions of other traders. Candlestick patterns provide a trader with a picture of human emotions that are used to make buy and sell decisions.

On a piece of paper, write down the following statement with a big black marker:

There is nothing on a chart that matters more than price. Everything else is secondary.

Take that piece of paper and tape it to the top of your monitor! I think too often swing traders get caught up in so many other forms of technical analysis that they miss the most important thing on a chart. You do not need anything else on a chart but candles to be a successful swing trader! There is nothing that can improve your trading more than learning the art of reading candlestick charts.

There are only two groups of people in the stock market. There are buyers and sellers. We want to find out which group is in control of the price action now. We use candles to figure that out. When stocks close at the bottom of the range we conclude that the sellers are in control. When stocks close at the top of the range we conclude that buyers are in control.

In the stock market, for every buyer there has to be a seller and for every seller there has to be a buyer. If a stock closes at the top of the range, this means that buyers were more aggressive and were willing to get in at any price. The sellers were only willing to sell at higher prices. This causes the stock to move up.

If a stock closes at the bottom of the range, this means that sellers were more aggressive and were willing to get out at any price. The buyers were only willing to buy at lower prices. This causes the stock to move down.

Where a stock closes in relation to the range tells us who is winning the war between buyers and sellers. This is the most important thing to know when reading candlestick charts. We can classify candles in two categories: wide range candles (WRC) and narrow range candles (NRC). Wide range candles state that there is high volatility (interest in the stock) and narrow range candles state that there is low volatility (little interest in the stock). Stocks tend to move in the direction of wide range candles.

The number one rule when reading candlestick charts is this: You want to buy a stock when nobody wants it and sell a stock when everybody wants it! This is the only way to consistently make money swing trading!

I know what you’re thinking. You thought this was going to be about hammers, doji’s, and shooting stars. Sorry to disappoint you, but knowing all of the different types of candlestick patterns is really not at all necessary once you understand why a candle represents the struggle between buyers and sellers.

Take the hammer candlestick pattern. What happened to make up this candle? The stock opened, then at some point the sellers took control of the stock and pushed it lower. But in the end, the buyers “won the war” and had enough strength to close the stock at the top of the range.

When we are reading candlestick charts, why would we need to know the name of the pattern? What we do need to know is why the candle looks the way that it does rather than spending our time memorizing candlestick patterns!

Craig Ferguson is a part-time swing trader. Visit http://www.swing-trade-stocks.com/ to learn his complete swing trading strategy using candlestick charts.

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