Candlestick Field Guide Every candle is a fight between buyers and sellers — Day 2 taught you to read one. This guide names the shapes worth hunting: the reversals, the breakouts, and the breakdowns. Tap any card for the story and how to spot it.
Boring and consistent is the flex. Let everyone else chase exciting.
All Bullish Bearish Neutral
Single candles One candle, one session's fight. Shape tells you who won — and how.
Bullish Marubozu Bullish All body, no wicks — buyers ran it from open to close.
Bearish Marubozu Bearish Opened at the high, closed at the low. Sellers never let up.
Hammer Bullish Sellers drove it down; buyers bought every share back.
Inverted Hammer Bullish After a drop, buyers probed higher — and held the floor.
Shooting Star Bearish Buyers reached for the stars and got slapped back down.
Hanging Man Bearish A hammer shape in the wrong place — at the top of a run.
Doji Neutral Open equals close. The fight ended in a draw.
Dragonfly Doji Bullish A doji that closed back at its high — sellers got erased.
Gravestone Doji Bearish A doji that closed back at its low — the rally died up there.
Spinning Top Neutral Small body, wicks both ways. Indecision in motion. Multi-candle patterns Two or three candles in conversation. Most reversals announce themselves here first.
Bullish Engulfing Bullish One green candle swallows the red one whole.
Bearish Engulfing Bearish One red candle erases the green one — and the mood.
Morning Star Bullish Big red, small pause, big green. The dawn after the drop.
Evening Star Bearish Big green, small stall, big red. The top, in three candles.
Bullish Abandoned Baby Bullish A doji left all alone at the bottom — gapped away on both sides.
Bearish Abandoned Baby Bearish A doji stranded above the crowd — then the floor drops out.
Three White Soldiers Bullish Three strong greens, each closing higher. Buyers marching.
Three Black Crows Bearish Three heavy reds stair-stepping down. Sellers in control.
Piercing Line Bullish Opens below the low, closes past the midpoint. A counterpunch.
Dark Cloud Cover Bearish Gaps above the high, then closes deep into the green body.
Tweezer Bottom Bullish Two candles, same exact low. The floor held — twice.
Tweezer Top Bearish Two candles, same exact high. The ceiling held — twice. Setups: breakouts & breakdowns Bigger structures built over days. The dashed lines are the levels that matter.
Bull Flag Bullish A strong pole, a quiet drift down, then the break higher.
Bear Flag Bearish A hard drop, a weak drift up, then the trapdoor opens.
Falling Wedge Bullish Lower lows that keep shrinking — the selling is running dry.
Rising Wedge Bearish Higher highs that keep shrinking — the rally is gasping.
Ascending Triangle Bullish A flat ceiling getting hammered by higher and higher lows.
Descending Triangle Bearish A floor under siege from lower and lower highs.
Double Bottom Bullish Two tests of the same low — the W that marks a floor.
Double Top Bearish Two failures at the same high — the M that marks a ceiling.
Inverse Head & Shoulders Bullish Low, lower low, higher low. The bottom, built in three dips.
Head & Shoulders Bearish High, higher high, lower high. The classic top formation. One rule above all of them: a pattern is a clue, not a command. It earns a trade only when it shows up at a level, with the trend and the volume agreeing — run it through the entry checklist before you act on it.