Basics

Reading the quote: OHLC, % change, bid and ask

Hover any bar on a BTCUSD chart and the legend up top changes: O 63,120 H 63,540 L 62,880 C 63,410. Most people read straight past it. Those four numbers are the whole story of that bar, and they answer questions the candle shape only hints at.

O, H, L, C

Open, high, low, close — for the bar your crosshair is on, not the whole session. Move the crosshair and every figure updates live. High and low are the extremes the price actually touched; close is where the fight ended. On the last, still-forming bar, C keeps moving until the bar completes. If the legend shows only the last price, switch OHLC back on under Settings → Status line → OHLC values. If the candle body confuses you, reading candlestick charts connects the shape to these four values.

Percent change, bid, ask

The green or red % next to the price is measured against the previous close, not today's open. That trips people up: a stock can open with a gap up and still print red all day because it's below yesterday's close. Below that sit bid (best price a buyer offers) and ask (best a seller wants). The gap between them is the spread — a couple of cents on AAPL in regular hours, but it fans out fast in thin markets, off-hours, or a fast-moving pair. Volume is contracts or shares traded, not dollars. Last price is simply the most recent trade to hit the tape.