Key Takeaways

Shooting Star Candlestick Pattern at a Glance

1 A shooting star candlestick is a one candle bearish reversal pattern.

2 The pattern matters most after an uptrend and near resistance.

3 Most traders confirm the setup with the next candle, RSI, MACD, stochastic, or volume before entering.

4 The shooting star and inverted hammer look the same, but the interpretation is different.

What Is the Shooting Star Candlestick Pattern?

A shooting star is a bearish reversal candlestick pattern that appears at the top of an uptrend. It forms when buyers drive prices higher during the session, but sellers absorb the move and force price back down before the close.

How to Interpret Shooting Star Candlestick Pattern?

The pattern reflects a failed uptrend. Buyers were testing higher prices, but sellers took control before the candle closed.

That shift does not confirm a downtrend by itself. It tells traders that the prior upside momentum may be losing strength and that the next candle now matters more.

How to Identify a Shooting Star Pattern?

TMGM Academy shooting star candlestick pattern diagram showing a bearish reversal candle with a long upper shadow, small real body, and little lower shadow after an uptrend.

A clean shooting star setup usually has three parts: trend context, candle shape, and confirmation.

• Trend context: The candle appears after a visible bullish run or extended upward leg.
• Real body: The body is small and sits near the low of the range.
• Upper wick: The upper shadow is long and clearly shows rejection of higher prices.
• Lower wick: The lower shadow is minimal or absent.

Confirmation becomes stronger when the next candle closes bearish, the pattern forms at a prior resistance zone or major Fibonacci retracement, and momentum technical indicators such as RSI, MACD, or the stochastic oscillator begin to turn lower. Volume context can also help confirm that buyers failed to maintain control.

Important
A shooting star that forms inside sideways price action is often just noise, not a real reversal signal.

What Is a Shooting Star Pattern Trading Strategy?

The standard use case is a trend reversal trade after an extended rally. Traders wait for the candle to print near resistance, then use confirmation to decide whether sellers are actually taking over.

A practical way to trade it is to treat the candle low as the trigger level. If the next candle breaks below that low and holds below it, the bearish case becomes stronger.

Pro Tip
The more stretched the prior uptrend is, the more meaningful the rejection can become.

Shooting Star Candlestick Pattern Real Life Example Using XAUUSD

TMGM Academy XAUUSD chart showing a shooting star candlestick pattern trade setup with entry, stop loss, take profit 1, and take profit 2 levels.

In this EURUSD Daily Chart example, gold rallies into resistance and prints a shooting star candlestick (July 18th, 2023) at the top of the move, showing that buyers pushed price higher but failed to

The reversal setup is confirmed when price breaks below the shooting star low, with the stop loss placed above the wick high because a move back above that level would invalidate the bearish reversal.

Take Profit 1 is set at the previous swing high, which can act as new support after the earlier breakout, while Take Profit 2 is placed at the previous swing low, which marks the next lower support area if bearish momentum continues.

Shooting Star vs Inverted Hammer

TMGM Academy shooting star vs inverted hammer candlestick pattern comparison showing the same candle shape but different trend context and reversal direction.

The shooting star and inverted hammer can look almost identical, but they mean different things because they form in different locations. A shooting star appears after an uptrend and warns of a possible bearish reversal, while an inverted hammer appears after a downtrend and warns of a possible bullish reversal.

The shape alone is not enough. Traders must always read the candle in the context of the trend that came before it.

How to Start Trading Shooting Star Candlestick Patterns with a Broker?

Start with education before execution. TMGM Academy already covers candlestick patterns and beginner technical analysis, so you can begin with our Candlestick Patterns Guide and Technical Analysis Guide before testing the setup in a demo workflow.

After that, open a demo account, focus on one market such as Gold or Forex, and test a fixed checklist for entry, stop loss, exit, and invalidation. Move to a live account only when the process is repeatable and the risk per trade is controlled. TMGM’s public platform and account pages also outline demo and live account access for traders using MT5.

Check More Bearish Candlestick Patterns

Bearish Pattern	Features
Hanging Man Pattern	The hanging man is a single-candle bearish reversal pattern that forms at the top of an uptrend. 1. The candle has a small body at the top of its range. 2. The lower shadow is at least twice the length of the body. 3. The candle has little or no upper shadow.
Bearish Engulfing Pattern	The bearish engulfing is a two-candle bearish reversal pattern that forms after an uptrend. 1. The first candle is a small bullish candle. 2. The second candle is a larger bearish candle with a body that completely engulfs the body of the first candle.
Bearish Harami Pattern	The bearish harami is a two-candle bearish reversal pattern that forms after an uptrend. 1. The first candle is a large bullish candle. 2. The second candle is a small candle, usually bearish, with a body that sits completely inside the body of the first candle.
Dark Cloud Cover Pattern	Dark cloud cover is a two-candle bearish reversal pattern that forms after an uptrend. 1. The first candle is a long bullish candle. 2. The second candle is a bearish candle that opens above the close of the first candle. 3. The second candle closes below the midpoint (50%) of the first candle body.
Tweezer Top Pattern	The tweezer top is a two-candle bearish reversal pattern that forms at the end of an uptrend. 1. The first candle is a bullish candle. 2. The second candle is a bearish candle. 3. Both candles have the same, or nearly the same, high.
Evening Star Pattern	The evening star is a three-candle bearish reversal pattern that forms after an uptrend. 1. The first candle is a long bullish candle. 2. The second candle is a small-bodied candle that can be bullish or bearish. 3. The third candle is a long bearish candle that closes below the midpoint (50%) of the first candle body.
Three Black Crows Pattern	Three black crows is a three-candle bearish reversal pattern that forms after an uptrend. 1. Three long bearish candles with small shadows form in a row. 2. Each candle opens inside the body of the previous candle. 3. Each candle closes lower than the previous candle.

Check More Bullish Candlestick Patterns

Bullish Pattern	Features
Hammer Pattern	The hammer is a single-candle bullish reversal pattern that forms after a downtrend. 1. The candle has a small body at the top of its range. 2. The lower shadow is at least twice the length of the body. 3. The candle has little or no upper shadow.
Inverted Hammer Pattern	The inverted hammer is a single-candle bullish reversal pattern that forms after a downtrend. 1. The candle has a small body at the bottom of its range. 2. The upper shadow is at least twice the length of the body. 3. The candle has little or no lower shadow.
Dragonfly Doji Pattern	The dragonfly doji is a single-candle bullish reversal pattern that forms at the bottom of a downtrend. 1. The open and close are at or near the high of the candle. 2. The candle has a long lower shadow. 3. The candle has little or no upper shadow.
Bullish Engulfing Pattern	The bullish engulfing is a two-candle bullish reversal pattern that forms after a downtrend. 1. The first candle is a small bearish candle. 2. The second candle is a larger bullish candle with a body that completely engulfs the body of the first candle.
Bullish Harami Pattern	The bullish harami is a two-candle bullish reversal pattern that forms after a downtrend. 1. The first candle is a large bearish candle. 2. The second candle is a small candle, usually bullish, with a body that sits completely inside the body of the first candle.
Piercing Line Pattern	The piercing line is a two-candle bullish reversal pattern that forms after a downtrend. 1. The first candle is a long bearish candle. 2. The second candle is a bullish candle that opens below the close of the first candle. 3. The second candle closes above the midpoint (50%) of the first candle body.
Bullish Kicker Pattern	The bullish kicker is a two-candle bullish reversal pattern that shows a sudden change from selling to buying. 1. The first candle is a bearish candle. 2. The second candle is a bullish candle that gaps up and opens at or above the open of the first candle. 3. The bodies of the two candles do not overlap.
Tweezer Bottom Pattern	The tweezer bottom is a two-candle bullish reversal pattern that forms at the end of a downtrend. 1. The first candle is a bearish candle. 2. The second candle is a bullish candle. 3. Both candles have the same, or nearly the same, low.
Morning Star Pattern	The morning star is a three-candle bullish reversal pattern that forms after a downtrend. 1. The first candle is a long bearish candle. 2. The second candle is a small-bodied candle that can be bullish or bearish. 3. The third candle is a long bullish candle that closes above the midpoint (50%) of the first candle body.
Bullish Abandoned Baby Pattern	The bullish abandoned baby is a three-candle bullish reversal pattern that forms after a downtrend. 1. The first candle is a long bearish candle. 2. The second candle is a doji that gaps down below the first candle. 3. The third candle is a long bullish candle that gaps up above the doji.
Three White Soldiers Pattern	Three white soldiers is a three-candle bullish reversal pattern that forms after a downtrend. 1. Three long bullish candles with small shadows form in a row. 2. Each candle opens inside the body of the previous candle. 3. Each candle closes higher than the previous candle.
Three Inside Up Pattern	The three inside up is a three-candle bullish reversal pattern that forms after a downtrend. 1. The first candle is a large bearish candle. 2. The second candle is a small bullish candle that stays inside the first candle body and closes above the midpoint (50%) of the first candle body. 3. The third candle is a bullish candle that closes above the open of the first candle.
Three Outside Up Pattern	The three outside up is a three-candle bullish reversal pattern that forms after a downtrend. 1. The first candle is a bearish candle. 2. The second candle is a bullish candle with a body that completely engulfs the body of the first candle. 3. The third candle is a bullish candle that closes above the close of the second candle.

Check More Neutral Candlestick Patterns

Neutral Pattern	Features
Doji Pattern	The doji is a single candle that opens and closes at or near the same price, which shows indecision between buyers and sellers. 1. The body is very small or appears as a thin line. 2. The upper and lower shadows can be any length. 3. A doji after a strong trend can warn of a reversal, and traders wait for the next candle to confirm the reversal.
Pin Bar Pattern	The pin bar is a single-candle reversal pattern that can be bullish or bearish. 1. The candle has a small body at one end of its range. 2. One long shadow, called the tail, makes up most of the candle range. 3. A bullish pin bar has a long lower shadow, and a bearish pin bar has a long upper shadow.
Marubozu Pattern	The marubozu is a single candle with a long body that shows strong buying or strong selling. 1. The candle has a long body. 2. The candle has no upper or lower shadow, or only very small shadows. 3. A bullish marubozu opens at the low and closes at the high, and a bearish marubozu opens at the high and closes at the low.
Harami Pattern	The harami is a two-candle reversal pattern that can be bullish or bearish. 1. The first candle is a large candle. 2. The second candle is a small candle with a body that sits completely inside the body of the first candle. 3. A bullish harami forms after a downtrend, and a bearish harami forms after an uptrend.
Engulfing Pattern	The engulfing is a two-candle reversal pattern that can be bullish or bearish. 1. The first candle is a small candle. 2. The second candle is a larger candle of the opposite colour, with a body that completely engulfs the body of the first candle. 3. A bullish engulfing forms after a downtrend, and a bearish engulfing forms after an uptrend.
Inside Bar Pattern	The inside bar is a two-candle pattern that can signal a continuation or a reversal. 1. The first candle is a large candle, often called the mother bar. 2. The second candle has a high and low that stay inside the high and low of the first candle. 3. Traders trade the breakout above the high or below the low of the first candle.
Morning Star and Evening Star Pattern	The morning star and evening star are three-candle reversal patterns, one bullish and one bearish. 1. The first candle is a long candle in the direction of the existing trend. 2. The second candle is a small-bodied candle that can be bullish or bearish. 3. The third candle is a long candle in the opposite direction that closes past the midpoint (50%) of the first candle body. 4. A morning star forms after a downtrend, and an evening star forms after an uptrend.