Read a price chart

A crypto price is simply the last price at which someone bought and someone sold. It moves every second because thousands of people trade at the same time.

Charts usually show candles. One candle covers a period — 1 minute, 1 hour, 1 day. Its thick body goes from the price at the start of the period to the price at the end; the thin lines (the wicks) show the highest and lowest prices reached in between. Green means the price ended higher than it started, red means lower.

Change the timeframe and the story changes: a coin can be red on the 5-minute chart and clearly rising on the daily one. Beginners panic on short timeframes; start by looking at the daily chart.

Percentages work against you on the way back: a 50 % drop needs a 100 % rise to get back to where you were. That is why protecting your money matters more than catching every move.