Shooting Star & Inverted Hammer
Long upper wicks that warn a rally is running out of buyers.
These are the upside-down cousins of the hanging man and hammer: a small body near the bottom with a long upper wick. Once again, the same shape means opposite things depending on the trendThe prevailing direction of price: up, down or sideways. it appears in.
- Shooting star — after an *uptrendThe prevailing direction of price: up, down or sideways.*. Price spiked high during the period but was pushed all the way back down by the close. That long upper wick is buyers running out of steam and sellers taking over: a bearish warning.
- Inverted hammer — the same shape after a *downtrendThe prevailing direction of price: up, down or sideways.. Price pushed up and got rejected, but the attempt* to rally signals buyers testing the waters: a potential bullish reversal, especially if the next candleA chart bar showing a period’s open, high, low and close. confirms.
A long upper wick is the fingerprint of rejected higher prices — the market tried to go up and got slapped back down. After a long rally (shooting star), that rejection is ominous: the buyers who powered the trendThe prevailing direction of price: up, down or sideways. just failed. The wick shows you exactly where supply overwhelmed demand, drawn on the chart for anyone willing to read it.
ExampleAfter a strong run, a candleA chart bar showing a period’s open, high, low and close. spikes to a new high then closes back near its open, leaving a long upper wick — a shooting star. Buyers couldn’t hold the highs; if the next session falls, the rally’s top may be in.
Key takeawaySmall body at the bottom + long upper wick = rejected higher prices. After an uptrendThe prevailing direction of price: up, down or sideways. it’s a bearish shooting star (buyers failed); after a downtrendThe prevailing direction of price: up, down or sideways. it’s a (tentatively) bullish inverted hammer. Confirm with the next candleA chart bar showing a period’s open, high, low and close..
FAQs
Shooting star vs gravestone doji — what’s the difference?
They’re close relatives. A shooting star has a small (non-zero) body near the low with a long upper wick; a gravestone doji is the extreme case where the body is essentially zero (open ≈ close ≈ low). Both signal rejection of higher prices; the gravestone is just the more emphatic version.