Candlestick patterns PDF
All 40 patterns on a printable sheet, plus a poster.
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Candlestick patterns: all 40, explained with diagrams
Most beginners try to memorise fifty candlestick patterns before they can read a single candle. Flip that. Learn what one candle is telling you, and the patterns stop being flashcards. Then use the library below, 40 patterns with a diagram each, as a reference you come back to.
By the StockGenie team··20 min read
Key takeaways
- A single candlestick shows four prices for one period, open, high, low and close, so you read it before you read any named pattern.
- There are 40 patterns worth knowing, in four groups: single-candle, two-candle, three-candle reversal and continuation patterns.
- Most reversal patterns come in mirror pairs, such as hammer and hanging man or morning star and evening star: the same shape means opposite things at the bottom and the top of a move.
- Start with three: the doji (indecision), the hammer (sellers rejected lower) and the engulfing (a clear shift in control).
- A pattern carries weight only in the right context: after a trend, at support or resistance, and with volume behind it. In the middle of a range it means little.
- Candlesticks describe what just happened, not what happens next; treat them as one input for your own research, never a signal to act on blindly.
Candlestick charts came out of 18th-century Japanese rice trading, and they have outlasted every fad since for one reason: a single candle packs four numbers and a quick read of who’s winning into one small shape. The trouble is how most people learn candlestick patterns, by cramming a deck of names before they can read one candle. We’ll do it the other way round. Pull apart a single candle until it’s obvious, then use the library of 40 patterns below as a reference, each with a diagram showing the trend before it and the pattern itself.
Want all 40 on paper? The free candlestick patterns PDF has every pattern in this guide, with the same diagrams, on a printable sheet. Prefer Hindi? There is a candlestick pattern PDF in Hindi as well.
What a single candlestick shows
One candlestick covers one slice of time, a day on a daily chart, a week on a weekly one, and squeezes four prices into it: the open, the high, the low and the close. That’s the whole alphabet of candlestick analysis in the stock market, one of the core building blocks of stock market analysis. Everything fancier is just candles arranged in a row, string enough of them together and you get the chart patterns traders name, read alongside volume to judge how much conviction sat behind each move.
The thick middle part is the body. It runs between the open and the close. If the stock closed higher than it opened, the body is green (or hollow) and the candle is bullish. If it closed lower, the body is red (or filled) and the candle is bearish. The thin lines poking out of the top and bottom are the wicks, sometimes called shadows, the tip of the upper wick is the highest price reached during the period, and the bottom of the lower wick is the lowest. That’s it. Four prices, one picture.
Body and wick: what they’re really telling you
Colour is the least interesting thing about a candle. The shape carries the real message, and it comes down to two questions: how big is the body, and how long are the wicks?
A long body means one side ran the show. A tall green candle says buyers pushed price up all session and never let go. A long red one says sellers did the same on the way down. A small body means the open and close ended up close together, buyers and sellers fought to a stand-off, and nobody really won.
The wicks tell you where price tried to go and got rejected. A long lower wick means the stock dropped hard during the period, then buyers stepped in and dragged it back up before the close. A long upper wick is the mirror image: a rally that ran out of steam and got sold off. Picture a stock like Tata Steel printing a candle with a tiny body and a long lower wick after a week of selling. The body says “not much net movement,” but the wick says buyers showed up exactly where it got cheap. That’s information you’d miss on a plain line chart, and reading that buyer-seller balance is a skill you build by working through technical analysis step by step.
The colour of a candle only tells you open versus close. Nothing about strength. A red candle with a long lower wick can be far more bullish than a small green one. Always read the body size and the wicks together; the colour is the last thing you check, not the first.
Start with three patterns
There are 40 patterns in the library below, and you don’t need all of them on day one. For someone just starting out with stock analysis, three earn their keep, and each is just the body-and-wick logic above, given a name. The doji says nobody won the session. The hammer says sellers pushed price down and got rejected. The engulfing says control changed hands in a single session. Learn to spot those three, then come back for the rest.
Candlestick reversal patterns: the mirror pairs
Most reversal patterns come in pairs. The same idea, flipped, means the opposite thing at the bottom of a fall and the top of a rise, which is why location decides the name. This table is the fastest way to learn them.
As a rule of thumb, patterns that need more candles give their signal later but with more evidence: three inside up is simply a bullish harami that has been confirmed by a third candle. The two-candle version is faster; the three-candle version is surer.
Single candlestick patterns
Single candlestick patterns are read from one candle’s body and shadows. They are the quickest to spot and the easiest to over-read, because one session is a small sample. Every one of them needs context: a doji after six green candles means something, a doji in a sleepy sideways stock means nothing. The trend before the candle is what reading a stock chart teaches you to see first.
Doji
Indecision
Open and close are almost the same, leaving a cross-shaped candle with no real body. Buyers and sellers fought to a draw.
What confirms it: Matters only after a clear trend or at a key level; wait for the next candle to pick a side.
In a stock moving sideways you will see dojis constantly, and there they mean little. The one worth noticing comes after five or six strong candles in the same direction.
Long-legged doji
Indecision
A doji with long shadows on both sides: price swung hard up and down, then closed where it opened. Heavy indecision.
What confirms it: Most meaningful at the top or bottom of a stretched move; the next close shows who won.
Long shadows mean a wide intraday range, so these often appear on results days or big news days. The candle tells you the market is unsure, not which way it will resolve.
Dragonfly doji
Bullish reversal
Open, high and close sit at the top with a long lower shadow. Sellers pushed price down and buyers pushed it all the way back.
What confirms it: At support after a fall, a higher close in the next session confirms the rejection of lower prices.
It is essentially a hammer with no body. The long lower shadow is the story: lower prices were tried and refused within the same session.
Gravestone doji
Bearish reversal
Open, low and close sit at the bottom with a long upper shadow. Buyers pushed price up and sellers erased the whole rally.
What confirms it: At resistance after a rise, a lower close in the next session confirms it.
The mirror image of the dragonfly. A gravestone just under a level where the stock has turned before carries far more weight than one in the middle of a range.
Spinning top
Indecision
A small body with upper and lower shadows of similar length. Neither side took control during the session.
What confirms it: In a trend it signals a pause, not a reversal; treat it as a reason to watch the next candle.
Several spinning tops in a row after a strong move often show a trend running out of breath. One on its own is usually just a quiet day.
Hammer
Bullish reversal
A small body near the top and a lower shadow at least twice the body, after a fall. Sellers were rejected. Price-action traders call it a bullish pin bar.
What confirms it: Needs a prior downtrend, ideally at support; a strong green candle next confirms.
The shape alone is not enough: the same candle at the top of a rally is a hanging man, with the opposite meaning. Location decides the name.
Inverted hammer
Bullish reversal
A small body near the bottom with a long upper shadow, after a fall. Buyers tried to lift price, an early sign of interest.
What confirms it: Weaker than a hammer; wait for the next candle to close above its body.
It looks like a shooting star but appears after a decline. Because the rally faded by the close, treat it as a question rather than an answer.
Hanging man
Bearish reversal
The same shape as a hammer, but at the top of a rise: small body high up, long lower shadow. Sellers showed up during the session.
What confirms it: Only a warning until a lower close follows; volume on the drop adds weight.
It is a hammer in the wrong place. A hanging man on low volume inside a strong uptrend is common, and the market often ignores it.
Shooting star
Bearish reversal
A small body near the low with a long upper shadow, after a rise. Buyers pushed up and were rejected hard. Also called a bearish pin bar.
What confirms it: Strongest at resistance; a lower close in the next session confirms.
A long upper shadow at a previous high is one of the clearest visual signs of supply on a chart. A close below the star's body the next day adds confirmation.
Bullish marubozu
Bullish strength
A long green body with little or no shadow: it opened at the low and closed at the high. Buyers controlled the entire session.
What confirms it: Shows strength, not a forecast; on a breakout above resistance, heavy volume adds conviction.
Marubozu means "close-cropped" in Japanese: a candle with its shadows shaved off. After a long fall it can mark a turn; in an uptrend it confirms momentum.
Bearish marubozu
Bearish strength
A long red body with little or no shadow: it opened at the high and closed at the low. Sellers controlled the entire session.
What confirms it: A break below support on a red marubozu shows the level genuinely gave way.
Also called a black marubozu. After a long rise it can mark a turn; in a downtrend it confirms the pressure rather than signalling a bottom.
Takuri line
Bullish reversal
A hammer-like candle with a tiny body at the top and a lower shadow at least three times the body. An extreme rejection of lower prices.
What confirms it: Treat it like a hammer: it needs a prior fall and a higher close next.
Some traders treat takuri and hammer as the same pattern. The difference is the extreme lower shadow, which shows an unusually sharp recovery within the session.
High-wave candle
Indecision
A small body with very long upper and lower shadows. The market has lost its sense of direction.
What confirms it: After a long trend it can come before a turn; a single high-wave candle decides nothing.
Think of it as a spinning top on stretched shadows. Clusters of high-wave candles often appear around turning points in volatile midcaps.
Bullish belt hold
Bullish reversal
After a fall, price opens at the session low, often with a gap down, and rallies all day to close near the high.
What confirms it: The longer the body, the stronger; the next candle should hold above its midpoint.
The name comes from sumo, where a wrestler grabs the opponent's belt from the start. The candle's strength is that sellers never got below the open all day.
Two-candle patterns
Two-candle patterns compare today’s candle with yesterday’s. Because they show the balance of power changing across two sessions, they are generally more telling than a single candle, and they include some of the most watched signals on any chart, the engulfing patterns. Most of them are only as good as the volume behind the second candle.
Bullish engulfing
Bullish reversal
A small red candle followed by a larger green candle whose body fully covers it. Control shifts from sellers to buyers.
What confirms it: Most reliable at support, with above-average volume on the green candle.
Compare bodies, not shadows. An engulfing candle that also clears the previous candle's shadows is the stronger version.
Bearish engulfing
Bearish reversal
A small green candle followed by a larger red candle whose body fully covers it. Control shifts from buyers to sellers.
What confirms it: Most reliable at resistance, with above-average volume on the red candle.
One of the most watched reversal patterns. A bearish engulfing on a results day with heavy volume is harder to dismiss than one on a quiet session.
Piercing line
Bullish reversal
A long red candle, then a green candle that opens below the red candle's low and closes above the middle of its body.
What confirms it: The deeper the close into the red body, the stronger; a close above it all would be an engulfing.
Also called the piercing pattern. Overnight gaps down after weak global cues are common in Indian markets, so the "opens below the prior low" condition shows up fairly often.
Dark cloud cover
Bearish reversal
A long green candle, then a red candle that opens above the green candle's high and closes below the middle of its body.
What confirms it: Stronger the deeper it closes into the green body; confirm with a lower close next.
The bearish counterpart of the piercing line. If the red candle closes below the green candle's open, it becomes a bearish engulfing instead.
Bullish harami
Bullish reversal
A long red candle followed by a small green candle that sits inside the red candle's body. The selling has lost momentum.
What confirms it: Weak on its own; it needs a higher close next, which forms three inside up.
Harami means "pregnant" in Japanese: the small candle sits inside the large one. It signals that the fall has paused, not that it has reversed.
Bearish harami
Bearish reversal
A long green candle followed by a small red candle inside its body. The buying has stalled.
What confirms it: Needs a lower close next to confirm, which forms three inside down.
Often the first hint that a rally is tiring. Many traders wait for the third candle before treating it as anything more.
Tweezer bottom
Bullish reversal
Two candles with matching lows after a fall, usually a red one then a green one. The same price was defended twice.
What confirms it: Stronger at a known support level; a higher close next confirms.
Matching lows at a round number, say ₹500, are a common sight. The closely related matching low pattern uses two red candles with the same close.
Tweezer top
Bearish reversal
Two candles with matching highs after a rise, usually a green one then a red one. The same price capped the move twice.
What confirms it: Stronger at resistance; a lower close next confirms.
Two tops at the same price show sellers defending that level. A tweezer top that forms at a 52-week high is worth marking on your chart.
Bullish kicker
Bullish reversal
A red candle followed by a green candle that gaps up above the red candle's open and keeps rising. A sharp change of sentiment.
What confirms it: Rare and usually news-driven; the gap should hold over the next sessions.
The gap separates the two candles completely, which is why kickers usually follow a surprise such as unexpected results. They are rare in liquid largecaps.
Bearish kicker
Bearish reversal
A green candle followed by a red candle that gaps down below the green candle's open and keeps falling.
What confirms it: Usually news-driven; the gap should hold rather than fill.
The mirror of the bullish kicker. Because it is usually event-driven, check what caused the gap before reading anything into the pattern.
Inside bar
Indecision
A candle whose high and low sit entirely within the previous candle's range. Volatility is contracting before the next move.
What confirms it: The direction comes from the breakout: a close above or below the larger candle's range.
Price-action traders use the larger "mother" candle's high and low as the levels to watch. Inside bars are common after a strong candle and ahead of results.
Three-candle reversal patterns
Three-candle patterns take longer to form, which is their weakness and their strength. You get the signal a day later than with a two-candle pattern, but the third candle often does the job of confirmation for you. Stretch the idea over weeks instead of days and you get the larger chart patterns, like head-and-shoulders and double bottoms.
Morning star
Bullish reversal
A long red candle, a small candle that gaps lower, then a long green candle that closes well into the first candle's body.
What confirms it: The key is the third candle closing above the first candle's midpoint; volume on it helps.
The small middle candle can be either colour; if it is a doji, the pattern is called a morning doji star. On daily NSE charts the gaps are often small.
Evening star
Bearish reversal
A long green candle, a small candle that gaps higher, then a long red candle that closes well into the first candle's body.
What confirms it: The key is the third candle closing below the first candle's midpoint.
The mirror of the morning star, and one of the more reliable three-candle reversal signals when it forms at resistance.
Three white soldiers
Bullish reversal
Three long green candles in a row, each opening within the previous body and closing near its high.
What confirms it: Strong after a fall; very long candles after an already big rise can mean the move is stretched.
Also called three advancing white soldiers. If the third candle has a long upper shadow or a much smaller body, look at the advance block instead.
Three black crows
Bearish reversal
Three long red candles in a row, each opening within the previous body and closing near its low.
What confirms it: Strong after a rise; after an already long fall it may simply be exhaustion.
The mirror of three white soldiers. In a stock that has already fallen sharply it can mark capitulation rather than the start of a new decline.
Three inside up
Bullish reversal
A bullish harami (long red, small green inside it) followed by a third candle that closes above the first candle's open.
What confirms it: The third candle is the confirmation the harami lacks.
This is the confirmed version of the bullish harami, which is why many traders prefer to wait for it rather than act on the harami alone.
Three inside down
Bearish reversal
A bearish harami followed by a third candle that closes below the first candle's open.
What confirms it: The third candle confirms what the harami only hinted at.
The confirmed version of the bearish harami. The signal arrives a day later, but with more evidence behind it.
Three outside up
Bullish reversal
A bullish engulfing followed by a third green candle that closes higher still.
What confirms it: The follow-through day makes it more reliable than the engulfing alone.
Because it needs a third day, you get the signal later than with a plain engulfing, but with more evidence behind it.
Three outside down
Bearish reversal
A bearish engulfing followed by a third red candle that closes lower still.
What confirms it: The follow-through day adds weight to the engulfing.
The confirmed version of the bearish engulfing. Like its bullish twin, it trades speed for evidence.
Advance block
Bearish warning
Three green candles in an uptrend with shrinking bodies and growing upper shadows. The rally is still rising but losing strength.
What confirms it: A warning rather than a reversal; watch for a bearish candle or a break of support.
Unlike three white soldiers, each candle here is weaker than the last. It does not mean the stock will fall, only that the rise is running out of steam.
Continuation patterns
Not every pattern is about a turn. Continuation patterns are pauses inside a trend, and they matter because they stop you from mistaking a rest for a reversal. The gap patterns here, which Japanese chartists call windows, are especially common on NSE charts after results or overnight global moves. If indicators help you tell a pause from a turn, RSI and MACD are the usual second opinion.
Rising three methods
Bullish continuation
A long green candle, three small red candles that stay within its range, then a long green candle that closes above the first.
What confirms it: The small candles are a rest, not a reversal; the final close above the first candle matters.
It looks alarming in real time because of the three red candles. The pattern is only complete when the final green candle clears the first one.
Falling three methods
Bearish continuation
A long red candle, three small green candles within its range, then a long red candle that closes below the first.
What confirms it: The final close below the first candle confirms the downtrend has resumed.
The mirror of rising three methods: a short pullback inside a downtrend that fails to change it.
Rising window
Bullish continuation
A gap up where today's low is above yesterday's high. The window often acts as support later.
What confirms it: It holds as long as later candles don't close back inside the gap.
Japanese chartists call gaps "windows". A rising window that holds on a later pullback suggests the gap reflected genuine demand.
Falling window
Bearish continuation
A gap down where today's high is below yesterday's low. The window often acts as resistance later.
What confirms it: It holds as long as later candles don't close back inside the gap.
A falling window that price cannot climb back into shows sellers defending the gap.
Upside tasuki gap
Bullish continuation
Two green candles with a gap up between them, then a red candle that dips into the gap but does not close it.
What confirms it: If the red candle closes the gap entirely, the pattern has failed.
A relatively rare pattern. The key detail is that the gap stays at least partly open.
Mat hold
Bullish continuation
A long green candle, a gap up, small candles drifting lower but holding above the first candle's low, then a strong green candle to new highs.
What confirms it: The final close above the pause is the signal; the gap makes it stronger than rising three methods.
Rarer than rising three methods, and usually seen in strongly trending stocks rather than sideways ones.
Why a pattern alone means almost nothing
Here’s the part the pattern-flashcards leave out: location and volume decide whether a candle matters. A hammer floating in the middle of a sideways range is forgettable. The exact same hammer landing on a support level the stock has bounced off three times before, on a day of unusually heavy volume, is worth a hard look.
So before you give any candle weight, check two things. First, where is it? A reversal candle earns respect at support or resistance, not mid-trend. Second, does volume agree? A reversal candle on thin trading is a whisper; the same candle on a volume spike is the market saying it out loud, which is why reading volume alongside price is worth learning early. This is exactly why candlesticks live inside the wider craft, see how to read a stock chart for how levels, trend and volume fit around the candles, and what technical analysis is for the thinking underneath all of it.
The same logic applies to candlestick patterns on the Nifty itself. An index chart is smoother than a single stock’s, so patterns on the Nifty 50 form less often, and a clean engulfing or morning star at a major index level tends to get noticed by a lot of traders at once.
One more honest caveat. A candlestick describes what already happened in a period; it does not promise what comes next. A textbook hammer can still be followed by another leg down. Patterns shift the odds a little when everything lines up. They never remove the risk, and anyone selling them as a sure thing is selling you something else entirely.
Reading candles without the eye strain
Eyeballing every candle on every NSE stock, checking each one against its level and its volume bar, is slow and easy to get wrong, your eyes glaze over after the tenth chart. That’s the grind technical analysis in the StockGenie app takes off your plate: point it at any NSE-listed company and it reads the trend, the levels, the indicators and the volume, in plain English or Hindi, and on Premium its AI pattern detection flags recognisable setups and whether they sit at a meaningful level.
The StockGenie stock analysis app won’t tell you to buy or sell, and that’s the point. It hands you the read, what the candles are showing and how much to trust it, and leaves the decision where it belongs, with you. If you’d rather keep the patterns beside your screen while you learn, print the candlestick patterns PDF and check each chart against it.
Sources & further reading
StockGenie provides analysis and education only, not investment advice. Always consult a SEBI-registered adviser before investing.
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