How to read a meme coin chart: candles, volume and market cap

A meme coin can move 50% in a few minutes, so its chart is worth reading carefully. The good news: you only need a handful of ideas to read it well.

Candles

Each candle covers one time frame, say 5 minutes. The body runs from the opening price to the closing price: green if it closed higher, red if lower. The thin lines above and below, the wicks, show the highest and lowest price reached in that time.

• Long green bodies: buyers in control.
• Long upper wicks: the price went up but got sold back down.
• Long lower wicks: the price dropped but buyers stepped in.

Volume

The bars at the bottom show how much was traded in each candle. A price move on big volume has many people behind it; the same move on tiny volume can reverse just as fast. On new coins, a few large trades can make the chart look dramatic, so check volume before reading too much into a candle.

Why the chart shows market cap

Meme coins often cost a fraction of a cent, with many zeros. sasa's chart shows market value instead: the price times the supply. It moves exactly like the price but reads like $45K or $1.2M. Market cap vs FDV vs liquidity explains the numbers.

Which time frame to use

• First hour of a coin: 1 minute or 5 minute candles.
• First day: 15 minutes to 1 hour.
• Older coins: 4 hours or 1 day to see the trend.

Patterns worth knowing

• A steady climb with rising volume: real demand building.
• One huge green candle, then a slow bleed: an early buyer or a bundle selling into new buyers.
• Higher lows after a drop: buyers defending a level.
• Flat chart, no volume: no attention. A coin needs buyers to move.