Many people emphasize when talking about candlesticks: a single candlestick has four numbers—Open, Close, High, Low. Mastering these four prices is considered entry-level. It sounds straightforward, but there's actually an additional layer of meaning behind this understanding.

When you see a bullish candle on the BTC daily chart that jumps from 96,000 to 101,000, the chart simply shows "one body plus two shadows." But what’s the reality? Behind it could be millions of trades and billions of dollars flowing in and out.

The essence of a candlestick is not just those four numbers, but: within a certain timeframe, all trading activity is compressed into a "market sentiment condensate."

What you see is the result. Those who truly understand are concerned with:

How was this result created? Who was actively buying and selling within this candlestick, pushing the price from point A to point B?

Focus a little closer, and you'll see clearly.

A candlestick with a particularly long upper shadow, the textbook answer is: "Selling pressure above was too heavy, bulls couldn't push higher."

But what if this is the first attempt to test above 100,000 on BTC on a 4-hour chart? The situation is completely different—

A wave of funds actively placed orders above 100,000, sweeping away all the sell orders; a bunch of "long-term retail traders" hiding at high levels setting take-profit orders, and a group of "shorts" defending with additional positions and stop-losses; in a short period, bulls and bears are exchanging positions at the same price, and after the fight, what remains is that long upper shadow.

On the surface, you see "just a failed push";

In reality, what happened was "at that moment, both sides were clearing their positions."

This is the story that the candlestick wants to tell you.