How to Read Binance and OKX Candlestick Charts: A Beginner's Practical Guide
Before Looking at Candlesticks: Clear Out Unnecessary Indicators
When beginners open the candlestick chart on Binance or OKX, the default interface may display three or four lines—MACD, RSI, and multiple moving averages all at once. This is too much information for your current stage.
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First Step: Click on chart settings, find the "Indicators" or "Technical Indicators" option, and turn off all indicators except volume and candlesticks. Keep only the "naked chart" to first understand the most basic information.
Reading Candlesticks One by One: The Four Elements and Colors
Each candlestick represents a time period (1 minute, 1 hour, 1 day, etc.) and contains four prices: open, close, high, and low.
Color Rules (based on Binance and OKX default settings):
Bullish candle (green): Close price > Open price, the period overall increased
Bearish candle (red): Close price < Open price, the period overall decreased
How to Read Upper and Lower Shadows:
Upper shadow: The highest price reached during this period
Lower shadow: The lowest price reached during this period
A long shadow indicates the price once surged high or dropped low, but ultimately did not hold that level
Price Change and Candlestick Time: OKX allows switching the data statistics period to "Hong Kong Time 0:00" or "International Time 0:00". Due to time zone differences, the starting point for calculating price changes may differ.
Connecting Candlesticks: Trend Analysis
A single candlestick represents a point in time; viewing consecutive candlesticks together reveals the direction.
Simplest Method for Trend Analysis:
Uptrend: Successive "higher highs" and "higher lows," with more bullish than bearish candles
Downtrend: Successive "lower highs" and "lower lows," with more bearish than bullish candles
Sideways/Consolidation: Candlestick prices fluctuate within a range, with no clear direction
At this step, no technical indicators are needed; just by looking at the arrangement of candlesticks, you can determine the current market state.
Two Easiest Auxiliary Features
Historical Order Display (B and S)
The green "B" and red "S" labels seen on the candlestick chart represent historical trade records of Buy and Sell, respectively. Hovering or long-pressing allows you to view the details of that order.
Candlestick Countdown
Enable the "Countdown" feature in chart settings, which displays the remaining time for the current candlestick next to the latest price. This is useful for short-term traders to judge "this candle is about to close."
Practical Guide: Core Areas of the Candlestick Chart Page
Using the OKX App as an example:
Top Area: Displays the latest price, highest price, lowest price, and trading volume for the asset
Middle Chart Area: The main candlestick chart area, where you can switch between different timeframes from 1 minute to monthly
Sub-chart Area: Shows the volume bar chart by default; volume bars are green when the price rises and red when the price falls
Bottom Order Book: Displays the depth of current buy and sell orders
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Two Common Questions for Beginners
Q: The candlestick colors are different on Binance and OKX? Default colors may be reversed (green for up, red for down vs. red for up, green for down). You can find color options in the chart "Settings" -> "Chart Settings" to adjust according to your preference.
Q: What are those curves (MA, EMA) on the candlestick chart? They are moving averages, calculated by averaging the closing prices of the past several candlesticks. For example, MA7 represents the average closing price of the past 7 candlesticks. Beginners can ignore them for now and gradually add them after becoming familiar with the naked chart.
Completion Check: Open the trading page on Binance or OKX, clear out unnecessary indicators, be able to identify whether the current candlestick is bullish or bearish, and be able to draw a rough trend line—this means you are ready to start watching the market.
