Candlestick formation · Bullish
What is it, in one line
Long red, a small gapped body, then a long green close.
Bullish · 3 candles · verdict: rule and thresholds below
Long red, a small gapped body, then a long green close. The engine checks the formation as an executable condition over open, high, low and close, with a trend filter applied before the count is kept.
Method
Three candles: a long down candle, a small-bodied candle whose body sits clear of it, then an up candle that closes back through at least half of the first candle’s body. The gap between the first and second bodies is part of the classical definition and is a parameter here, because most intraday series rarely gap.
The traditional claim
Traditionally read as one of the stronger bullish reversal formations, on the reasoning that selling stalled and then reversed across three sessions.
How this detection is wrong
TA-Lib requires a real-body gap between the first and second candles, which minGapAtr reproduces at its default of 0. Most intraday series rarely gap, so the no-gap variant exists and the difference between the two counts is itself a publishable number. penetration is the fraction of the first body the third candle must close back through; the classical requirement is one half.
Published so the count can be reproduced. Every figure below is a parameter of the rule, not a preference: change one and the occurrence count changes with it.
| Parameter | Meaning | Default |
|---|---|---|
| trendPeriod | bars of prior trend inspected | 5 |
| maxPriorSlope | prior slope must be below | -1 |
| minFirstBodyAtr | first body, at least, in ATR | 0.6 |
| maxStarBodyRatio | star body, at most, relative to the bar before | 0.4 |
| penetration | how far the close must push into the previous body | 0.5 |
| minGapAtr | gap between bars, at least, in ATR | 0 |
| atrPeriod | bars of ATR used to size everything below | 14 |
These share enough geometry that a detector can return more than one of them on the same bar. The engine reports every match rather than picking a winner.
Every pair on the site that can be mistaken for another, and what separates each: the look-alikes index.
Three candles: a long down candle, a small-bodied candle whose body sits clear of it, then an up candle that closes back through at least half of the first candle’s body. The gap between the first and second bodies is part of the classical definition and is a parameter here, because most intraday series rarely gap. The detector also requires a prior downtrend, so the same shape in the wrong context is not counted.
It is read as bullish. Traditionally read as one of the stronger bullish reversal formations, on the reasoning that selling stalled and then reversed across three sessions.
TA-Lib requires a real-body gap between the first and second candles, which minGapAtr reproduces at its default of 0. Most intraday series rarely gap, so the no-gap variant exists and the difference between the two counts is itself a publishable number. penetration is the fraction of the first body the third candle must close back through; the classical requirement is one half.
As an executable rule over open, high, low and close, with 7 named parameters — including bars of prior trend inspected 5, prior slope must be below -1, first body, at least, in ATR 0.6 — all published on this page so the count can be reproduced. Strict and loose variants are defined as well, so the sensitivity of the count to those thresholds is visible rather than assumed.
Measurement pending re-run
No hit rate is published here yet. The run that would supply one was computed on engine ca6d9e36c81c; the engine is now cfb08765de7c. Its candlestick rows included the still-forming bar, and it predates the chart formations entirely, so those figures have been withdrawn rather than published with a caveat. The definition above is unaffected: it is what the detector tests, and no re-run changes it.
Same shape, opposite reading
The shapes are close, and the prior trend is what decides which one fired: this rule requires a preceding downtrend, its mirror a preceding uptrend.
Evening Star: A long up candle, a small candle above it, then a down candle closing back through the first.