Hey Lykkers! Ever scrolled through your phone, see a stock chart with its jagged lines and colorful bars, and think, “This looks like a polygraph test for a robot”? You’re not alone. Most people see a chart and just see noise.

But what if I told you that in just 60 seconds, you could learn to spot the real story hiding in those squiggles? No jargon, no finance degree required. Let’s break it down together.

First, silence the noise. Every chart is built on two simple questions: Price (on the vertical axis) and Time (on the horizontal axis). The line you see is just a historical trail of where the price has been. Before you interpret anything, identify the basic layout. Is this a one-day chart or a five-year chart? The timeframe is everything—it tells you whether you’re looking at a weather report or a climate pattern.

As John J. Murphy explains in Technical Analysis of the Financial Markets, “it should be stressed here again, however, that basic trend analysis is still the overriding consideration.”

The 30-Second Story: What Candlesticks Reveal

Now, look at the shapes that make up the line. Those are called candlesticks. Each one is a capsule of market emotion for a specific period—a day, an hour.

The Body: The thick part. A green (or white) body means the period closed higher than it opened—buyers won. A red (or black) body means it closed lower—sellers won.

The Wicks: The thin lines above and below. They show the full range of battle—the highest and lowest prices reached during that period. A long upper wick means buyers pushed the price up, but sellers fought back to drive it down before the close. A long lower wick shows the opposite: sellers tried to crush it, but buyers recovered it.

Your Practical Drill: Look for a candle with a very long lower wick and a small body near the top, often called a "hammer." This frequently signals that selling pressure was overwhelmed by buying. It’s a basic sign of potential reversal, a concept visually catalogued in sources like Steve Nison’s Japanese Candlestick Charting Techniques.

The 15-Second Reality Check: The Volume Truth

At the bottom of most charts, you’ll find a series of vertical bars. This is trading volume—the number of shares or contracts traded. It is the credibility behind the price move.

The Core Principle: Price movement with high volume is a strong, believable signal. Price movement on low volume is suspect—it lacks conviction and may reverse quickly.

Your 60-Second Scan: The Takeaway

You don’t need to predict the future. You just need to assess the present. Before you move on, ask:

1. Trend: Is the general path of the line over my chosen timeframe up, down, or sideways?

2. Last Chapter: What story did the last 3-5 candlesticks tell? A cluster of green? A red candle with long wicks?

3. Conviction: Is the volume bar for the latest movement taller or shorter than average? Does it support the price action?

Reading a chart in 60 seconds is not about finding a secret code. It is about learning to see the market’s current posture—its confidence or uncertainty etched in real-time. Start by applying this glance to one single asset you know. Watch how the abstract shapes begin to form a narrative of tension between fear and hope. That is the first, and most valuable, step.