Reading OHLC on a Chart

Learn Reading OHLC on a Chart — part of our Market Mechanics series on Trading Bite. Free trading education for Pakistan, India & Gulf traders. Educational use only; not financial advice.

Open, High, Low, Close

Every bar answers four questions for its timeframe:

  1. Open — first traded price when the bar started.
  2. High — highest price during the bar.
  3. Low — lowest price during the bar.
  4. Close — last price when the bar ended.
PriceHighOpenCloseLow

Why close matters

Many traders weight the closing price heavily because it reflects where the market settled after all intrabar volatility. Indicators such as moving averages use close prices by default.