Candlestick charts are thought to have been developed in the 18th century by Munehisa Homma, a Japanese rice trader of financial instrumentsCandlesticks are usually composed of the body (black or white), and an upper and a lower shadow (wick): the area between the open and the close is called the real body, price excursions above and below the real body are called shadows.Candlestick charts are a visual aid for decision making in stock, foreign exchange, commodity, and option trading. For example, when the bar is white and high relative to other time periods, it means buyers are very bullish. The opposite is true for a black bar.Close = (open + high + low + close) / 4High = maximum of high, open, or close (whichever is highest)Low = minimum of low, open, or close (whichever is lowest)Open = (open of previous bar + close of previous bar) / 2