A shooting star is a small body near the bottom of the session's range with an upper wick at least twice the body, formed after an advance. It shows a rejected push higher; a lower close next supports it and a close above its high ends it.
What is the shooting star candlestick pattern?
A shooting star is a single-candle bearish reversal pattern that forms after an advance. Its body is small and sits near the bottom of the session's range, its upper wick is long and its lower wick is short or absent. During the session buyers pushed the stock to a new high, sellers drove it back down, and it closed near its low.
The candle records a failed attempt to extend the advance. It does not show why the attempt failed, and on its own it covers only one session of rejection. Its reading depends on the advance before it, the level it reached and the close after it.
How to identify a shooting star
Measure the candle against the usual conventions, which describe proportions rather than prices. The rules mirror those of the hammer, with the long wick above the body instead of below it.
- The upper wick is at least twice the height of the body.
- The lower wick is absent or very short; a common working limit is about a tenth of the session's range.
- The body is small and in the lower part of the range. Its color is secondary, though a bearish body adds a little weight.
- The candle follows an advance. Ideally its body opens above the previous body, the gap that makes it a star in candlestick terms.
| Measure | Value |
|---|---|
| Open | $52.95 |
| High | $54.85 |
| Low | $52.65 |
| Close | $52.75 |
| Body: open minus close | $0.20 |
| Upper wick: high minus open | $1.90 |
| Lower wick: close minus low | $0.10 |
| Upper wick divided by body | 9.5 |
| Lower wick as a share of the range | 4.5% |
The star's body lies $0.25 above the top of the previous body, so the candle also shows the small gap that classic definitions prefer.
Trend context: why the advance comes first
The shooting star is a warning at a high, so it needs an advance to warn about. In the figure, closes rose 13.4% over the ten sessions before it. A shooting star that reaches into a prior swing high or the top of a range shows sellers waiting at a price that already mattered, which carries more information than a long upper wick in open space.
After a decline, the same shape is an inverted hammer, which is read the other way: buyers tried to lift the stock after a fall and, although the attempt faded, the attempt itself is a first sign of demand. In a sideways range a long upper wick is common and usually unremarkable.
An advance that has carried the stock far above its 50-session moving average leaves more room for a pullback than a slow climb, and chartists watch shooting stars most closely after such extended runs.
Confirmation: a lower close
A shooting star asks whether sellers follow through. The common test is a next-session close below the star's close; a stricter one is a close below the star's low, or a gap down the next morning that holds through the close.
- In the figure, the next session closes at $51.60, below the star's low of $52.65, the stricter form of confirmation.
- A next session that closes higher but stays below the star's high leaves the warning unconfirmed.
- A close above the star's high ($54.85 in the figure) invalidates the pattern: buyers have taken out the price at which they were rejected.
Confirmation changes the evidence, not the certainty. Decide on your confirmation and invalidation closes before the next session, and keep position decisions in your own plan.
Volume analysis for a shooting star
High volume on a shooting star shows heavy trading at prices that could not hold, which suggests that many sellers met the push higher. On light volume, the long upper wick may reflect a thin session more than a wave of supply.
- In the figure, the star trades 1.7 times the average volume of the previous ten sessions and the confirming session 1.4 times.
- Heavy volume on a down session after the star strengthens the warning; a quiet down session weakens it.
- Compare volume with the stock's own recent average, and check whether a scheduled event, such as an earnings release, explains it.
Failure examples: when buyers take the high
A shooting star fails when buyers close the stock above the star's high. In the hypothetical example below, the star forms on below-average volume, the next session closes higher, and the session after that closes above the star's high on heavier volume; the advance then continues.
- It forms in a steady uptrend with rising moving averages rather than after a sharp run.
- Its volume is lighter than in the sessions before it.
- Its body does not gap above the previous body.
- The next session closes higher.
Shooting star vs inverted hammer and other look-alikes
The shooting star shares its shape with the inverted hammer and differs from the gravestone doji and the hanging man in specific ways. Location and the position of the long wick separate them.
| Candle | Long wick | Prior trend | Reading |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shooting star | Upper | Advance | Bearish, needs a lower close |
| Inverted hammer | Upper | Decline | Bullish only with a strong next session |
| Gravestone doji | Upper, no body | Either | Like a shooting star when it follows an advance |
| Hanging man | Lower | Advance | Bearish warning, needs a lower close |
| Hammer | Lower | Decline | Bullish, needs a higher close |
A shooting star and an inverted hammer can be the same candle. The difference is the trend before it, which is why a candle cannot be named from its shape alone. A bearish engulfing pattern is the two-candle warning at highs: it shows sellers taking over with a large body instead of a long wick.
Research checklist
Read the candle on a daily chart where it is clearly visible, such as a 3M range in Stock Charts with the volume pane open. TradeClever does not label shooting stars, so these checks are yours to make.
- Measure the advance before the candle in sessions and percent.
- Record the open, high, low and close and check both wick proportions.
- Note whether the body gapped above the previous body.
- Mark the star's high as the invalidation level and its low as the stricter confirmation level.
- Mark nearby resistance, such as a prior swing high.
- Compare volume with the ten-session average and record the next close.
Sources
- Steve Nison, Japanese Candlestick Charting Techniques (New York Institute of Finance, 1991)
Read our data and methodology notes for calculation context. This guide explains research tools and observations. It does not recommend a trade or investment.