Candlestick pattern summary

• Doji: Prices at the open and close of the period are at the same level, indicating indecisiveness about price direction. The signal tends to be more dependable when it appears at a top than at a bottom.
  
  
• Shooting star: After an upward move, prices gap up from the previous close and rally higher from the open, but the market rejects the high prices and prices fall back to close near the open, depicted by a candle with a long upper shadow, a small real body at the lower end of the price range and little or no lower shadow. This suggests buying interest faded after an early spurt to higher levels and implies the end of a bullish run.
  
  
• Piercing line and dark cloud cover: These reversal patterns are mirror images of one another and are close relatives of engulfing patterns, except that the current candle’s body does not engulf the previous candle. Instead, the market has a gap opening, then moves sharply in the opposite direction and closes more than halfway through the previous candle’s body.
  
  
• Hammer and Hanging Man: These two reversal patterns look very much alike, but their names and impact on prices depend on whether they occur at the end of a downtrend or an uptrend. The signal candlestick has a small real body and a long lower shadow, suggesting the previous trend is losing momentum. This pattern also requires confirmation by the next candle.
  
  
• Harami: The harami is a reversal pattern following a trend. Rather than engulfing the previous candle, price action for the current candle is entirely within the range of the previous candle body. This pattern requires immediate follow-through for confirmation.
  
  
• Engulfing patterns: Prices open below the previous close (bullish) or above the previous close (bearish) and then stage a strong turnaround, producing a candle body that totally engulfs the previous candle and suggesting a change in trend direction.
  
  
• Spinning top: A spinning top is similar to a doji, but it has a real body — that is, the open and close are not the same — and shadows that are longer than its real body. The shade (white or black) of the real body is unimportant. Spinning tops indicate indecision, a stand-off of bullish and bearish forces. Several spinning tops together often mark a point of price trend change.