Candlesticks

Body and wick. Two elements that draw market psychology. Marubozu, spinning tops, hammers, shooting stars, doji — what the basic forms say about the battle within.

A candle with no shadows — body only, from open to close. The Marubozu is the purest expression of conviction a single bar can show: one side took control at the open and the other never raised its voice.

A single candle where open equals close. With no real body, the cross-shaped glyph records a session that ended where it began — a draw between buyers and sellers, drawn in silence.

A small body flanked by upper and lower shadows of nearly equal length. Not quite a Doji — but a close cousin that records a session where both sides showed up in force and neither truly won.

Identical shape, opposite meaning. A small body sitting atop a long lower shadow — a Hammer at the bottom of a decline, a Hanging Man at the top of a rally. Context decides everything.

Identical shape, opposite meaning. A small body sitting below a long upper shadow — a Shooting Star at the top of a rally, an Inverted Hammer at the bottom of a decline. The mirror image of the Hammer and Hanging Man.

A two-candle reversal in which the second body wholly engulfs the first. A single session rewrites yesterday entirely — a decisive vote, one of candlestick analysis's most reliable reversal signals.

A three-candle bullish reversal at the lows of a downtrend. The mirror of the Evening Star, and one of the most reliable buy signals in candlestick analysis.

A three-candle reversal pattern appearing at the top of uptrends. One of the most reliable bearish reversal signals in candlestick analysis.

A two-candle pattern in which a small second candle sits entirely inside the body of a large first candle. *Harami* means 'pregnant' in Japanese — the first candle carrying the second. The record of a trend that ran out of breath.

Two-candle reversal patterns where day two punches deep into the prior body before closing. Less decisive than an Engulfing, more eloquent than a Harami — the trap of the opening gap, betrayed by the close.

Two or more candles whose highs (or lows) align almost exactly. The matching extreme is the level itself — a record of price tested twice and rejected twice at the same point.

Three consecutive long bullish candles, each opening within the prior body and closing near its high. A strong continuation signal that marks the start of a new uptrend or a powerful breakout from consolidation.

Three consecutive long bearish candles at the top of an uptrend. Especially feared in equities — not a one-day panic but three days of methodical, sustained selling.

A large first candle, a small second candle nested inside its body (a Harami), then a third candle that closes in the reverse direction. A Harami with one confirming candle added — up at a bottom, down at a top.

A three-candle reversal that adds one confirming bar to an engulfing pattern. The second candle engulfs the first; the third extends in the same direction to confirm the turn. Read it as the confirmed version of the engulfing.

A long candle, then three small counter-moves that stay inside its body, then another long candle. The rest is over; the trend resumes. Sakata's classic continuation pattern.

Price gaps in the trend direction, then an opposite-colored candle tries to fill the gap but stops short. The gap survives, and the trend continues. A three-candle continuation pattern.

A single long candle whose open is the extreme low (or high), running one direction with almost no wick on the opening side. The missing wick records a decision made the instant the bar opened, a reversal signal driven by the absence of hesitation.

Two opposite-colored candles close at almost the same level. Price gaps away in the trend direction, then gets dragged all the way back to the prior close by the end of the session. A reversal hint stamped by the sheer persistence of the counterattacking side.

Two opposite-colored candles that share the same open. Even though the second candle starts with the opposite color of the prior day, it opens at the same price and runs back in the trend direction. A one-day reversal denied, confirming continuation.

Two opposite-colored Marubozu candles separated by a gap form one of the most powerful reversals. The two wickless bodies record that the whole mood flipped overnight, regardless of the prior trend.

After one strong trend candle, a cross (doji) appears, sitting entirely inside the prior body. The drop from clear momentum into complete indecision speaks of reversal more strongly than an ordinary Harami.

Open and close land on the same price, with a single long wick reaching off to one side. The mark of a level probed and then fully recovered over the session tells how the fight at a bottom or a top resolved. Two mirror-image variants of the doji.

A rare and exceptionally powerful reversal: an isolated Doji separated from the candles on either side by gaps. The extreme form of the Morning Star and Evening Star.

An inside bar fakes a breakout one way, fails to follow through, then breaks back out the other side. A trap that hooks breakout traders. You take the side it breaks back into.

Three bullish candles keep pushing to higher highs, yet their bodies shrink and their upper wicks stretch out. Buyers keep advancing, but each step gets heavier. A three-candle sign of fatigue at the end of a rally.

Price gaps higher in an uptrend, yet two crows (bearish candles) settle in above the gap. The gap is not yet filled, but the failure to extend higher hints at a top. A three-candle bearish reversal pattern.

A three-candle pattern where one candle is sandwiched between two of the opposite color, with the two outer closes landing at nearly the same price. Two separate days stopping at the same level tells the market that firm support (or resistance) sits there. A reversal signal.

In a downtrend, a candle that gaps lower rallies back, but the rally is too weak to reach the midpoint of the prior bearish body. How far short it falls splits the pattern into three. A trio of weak bounces that signal a continued decline.

A reinforced Rising Three Methods. After a long bullish candle, three small candles pull back only shallowly, then a strong fifth candle takes a new high. The shallow dip reveals a trend too deep to break, even while it rests.

Three candles run in one direction, then a single fourth candle engulfs all three at once. What took three bars to build is wiped out by one. Classic theory calls it continuation, but in practice it often works as a reversal.

After a decline where bearish candles step down like a ladder, lower and lower, the fourth candle finally lights an upper shadow. The fifth gaps up and turns bullish, signaling a sold-out bottom. A five-candle reversal pattern.

A racing trend gaps once more, runs out of breath on small candles, then a long final candle surges all the way back into the gap and reverses. A five-candle reversal that turns away at the exhausted tail of a move.