A shooting star candlestick is a single candle that forms after a price rise, with a small body near its low, a long upper wick at least twice the body and little or no lower wick. Buyers pushed price up and sellers drove it back down before the close, a warning that the rise may be stalling.
In short
- A shooting star has a small body in the lower part of its range, an upper wick at least twice the body and almost no lower wick.
- It only counts after a rise. The same shape after a fall is an inverted hammer.
- Most traders wait for the next candle to close below the shooting star's low before they sell.
- The usual stop goes a few pips above the top of the wick, so the stop is often wide and the position has to be smaller.
- A shooting star at a resistance level after a long run carries more weight than one in the middle of a range.
What does a shooting star candlestick look like?
A shooting star looks like an upside-down hammer: a long thin wick rising from a small body that sits at or near the bottom of the candle. The body can be red or green. It shows a rally that was sold back within the same candle, and it only counts when price has been rising into it.
You can measure the shape instead of judging it by eye. A candle passes when it meets four conditions:
- The upper wick is at least twice the height of the body.
- The body sits in the lower third of the candle's full range, from high to low.
- The lower wick is small or missing. A workable filter is a lower wick under a tenth of the full range.
- The candle closes after a run of rising prices, ideally into a resistance level.
How to measure one on a chart
Take a 4-hour GBP/USD candle that opens at 1.3228, rises to 1.3285, dips to 1.3222 and closes at 1.3225. The body is 3 pips (1.3228 to 1.3225). The upper wick runs from 1.3228 to 1.3285, which is 57 pips, or 19 times the body. The lower wick is 3 pips of a 63-pip range, under 5%, and the top of the body is only 6 pips above the low. The candle passes all four checks, and the worked example below trades it.
What does a shooting star pattern tell you?
A shooting star tells you that buyers tried to extend a rise and failed within a single candle. Price traded well above the open, then sellers pushed it back to close near or below the open. Anyone who bought near the high is now holding a loss, and if price keeps falling some of them sell, which adds to the move down.
One rejected rally can be followed by another push higher, especially in a strong trend, so the candle alone is only a warning. It carries more weight when it forms at a level where price has turned before, after several strong up candles, or when the wick pokes above a previous high and closes back below it. Fading momentum adds to the case; a bearish divergence on an oscillator such as RSI is one sign, covered in our divergence trading guide.
Does a forex shooting star need a gap?
Traditional candlestick definitions, written for stock charts, also ask the shooting star to open above the previous candle's body, leaving a gap. Forex trades around the clock on weekdays, so each candle usually opens where the last one closed, and most forex traders drop the gap rule.
Daily forex candles have a second quirk. Platforms end the trading day at different times (many use 5pm New York time), so the same day can print a shooting star on one platform and a different candle on another. Check when your platform closes the day before you rely on a daily candle.
How do you confirm a shooting star?
Most traders confirm a shooting star when the next candle closes below the shooting star's low. A looser version accepts a close below its body. The confirming close shows that sellers followed through after the rejected rally, which the shooting star cannot show on its own.
Waiting costs you price: by the time the confirming candle closes, part of the fall has already happened, while the stop still has to sit above the wick. The worked example below puts numbers on that cost.
Volume helps more on stock charts than on forex. On forex and index CFDs the volume bars count price updates (tick volume) rather than the amount traded, and they jump at every session open, so treat them as a minor hint.
How do you trade a shooting star candlestick?
To trade a shooting star, sell at the close of the shooting star or after a confirming candle, place the stop a few pips above the top of the wick, and aim for the nearest support or the start of the rally. Size the position so the stop costs a fixed amount, such as 0.5% or 1% of the account.
Entry
Selling at the shooting star's close gives a better price and a smaller stop, but you trade without proof that sellers will follow through. Waiting for confirmation filters out some failures, at the cost of a worse price and a wider stop.
Stop placement
The usual stop goes just above the high of the wick. If price trades above that high, the rally the shooting star rejected has resumed. Add a few pips for the spread: most charts plot the bid price, but a sell position closes at the ask, so your stop can trigger before the chart's candle reaches it.
Targets
The natural targets are the nearest support level and the point where the rally started. Because the wick makes the stop wide, the first support is often only about as far away as the stop. Our risk-reward ratio guide explains how to judge whether a trade offers enough.
Shooting star vs inverted hammer, gravestone doji and hanging man: how do they differ?
A shooting star and an inverted hammer have the same shape, and only the trend before them differs: a shooting star follows a rise, while an inverted hammer follows a fall and hints at a possible bottom. A gravestone doji is the same shape with almost no body. A hanging man also warns of a top, but its long wick points down.
| Candle | Shape | Forms after | What traders read |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shooting star | Small body near the low, long upper wick, little lower wick | A rise | Possible top |
| Inverted hammer | Same shape as the shooting star | A fall | Possible bottom, needs a higher close next |
| Gravestone doji | Open and close at or near the low, almost no body, long upper wick | Either; after a rise it reads like a shooting star | Rejection of higher prices |
| Hanging man | Small body near the high, long lower wick | A rise | Possible top, needs a lower close next |
| Hammer | Small body near the high, long lower wick | A fall | Possible bottom |
How would you trade a shooting star on a $25,000 Direct account?
This example trades the GBP/USD shooting star measured above on a $25,000 Direct account. The prices are made up for teaching, and the rules are the real Direct rules. The account risks 0.5% of its starting balance per trade, which is $125.
- Over two days GBP/USD rises from 1.3020 to 1.3240, into a previous high at 1.3250.
- The 4-hour shooting star spikes to 1.3285, above the old high, and closes back at 1.3225.
- The stop goes at 1.3290, the wick's high plus a 5-pip buffer for the spread.
- The target is 1.3020, where the rally started. A smaller support level sits at 1.3100.
- On GBP/USD a standard lot of 100,000 units moves $10 per pip, so the size is $125 divided by (stop distance in pips × $10), rounded down.
The aggressive entry sells at the shooting star's close. The confirmed entry waits for the next candle, which closes at 1.3196, below the shooting star's low of 1.3222.
| Sell at the shooting star's close | Sell after confirmation | |
|---|---|---|
| Entry | 1.3225 | 1.3196 |
| Stop distance to 1.3290 | 65 pips | 94 pips |
| Size for $125 risk | 0.19 lots | 0.13 lots |
| Loss at the stop, before costs | $123.50 | $122.20 |
| Gain at 1.3020, before costs | 205 pips, $389.50 | 176 pips, $228.80 |
| Reward to risk | 3.2 to 1 | 1.9 to 1 |
Waiting for confirmation cost 29 pips of entry price and widened the stop by the same amount, so the reward to risk fell from 3.2 to 1.9. In return, you would have stayed out if the next candle had closed higher. For the confirmed entry, the nearer support at 1.3100 is 96 pips away, about 1 times the risk, which is why the plan aims for 1.3020. The position size calculator works out the lot size for any pair and stop distance.
How the CMC Funded rules shape a shooting star trade
On a $25,000 Direct account the daily loss limit is 4%, or $1,000, measured on equity, and the maximum loss is 6%, a fixed floor of $23,500. A loss of about $123 at the stop uses roughly 12% of the daily limit, and the $1,500 above the floor covers 12 full losses of $125. Wide stops are the reason this example risks 0.5% per trade. On a $25,000 Classic account the daily limit is $1,250 and the floor is $22,500.
The 10% profit target here is $2,500, so the confirmed trade's $228.80 would cover about 9% of it. There is no time limit, so you can pass on shooting stars that offer only 1 to 1.
Shooting stars often form on news spikes. News trading is allowed, but spreads often widen around major releases, which changes where a stop triggers. A 4-hour trade can also run for days, and overnight and weekend holding are allowed. Simulated trades carry trading costs, as they would on a live account: a commission when a trade opens and when it closes, a price markup on some symbols, and holding costs on positions kept overnight.
Because the daily limit is measured on equity, a losing trade counts against it while it is still open. Reaching the limit ends the account, and there is no warning stage. The limits for every account size are on the rules page.
Common mistakes
The most frequent mistake is calling any long-wick candle a shooting star. In a downtrend or the middle of a range the shape means much less, so check that price has been rising into it.
A 4-hour candle can look like a shooting star after two hours and close as a strong green candle. Judge the shape only after the candle closes.
A stop halfway up the wick is easy for price to reach on a retest. Keep the stop above the high and cut the size instead.
After confirmation, many setups offer close to 1 to 1 to the first support. Work out the reward to risk before you sell, and skip thin trades.
On 1-minute and 5-minute charts shooting star shapes appear constantly and mean little. The 1-hour, 4-hour and daily charts give more meaningful candles.
Questions traders ask
Is a shooting star bullish or bearish?
A shooting star is bearish. It warns that a rise may be ending, because sellers pushed price back down from the high within one candle. Searches for a "bullish shooting star" usually mean the inverted hammer, which has the same shape after a fall, or a green-bodied shooting star, which is still a bearish warning.
What does a red shooting star mean?
A red shooting star closes below its open, so sellers took price back below where the candle started. Many traders read that as slightly more bearish than a green shooting star, which closes just above its open. Both are valid, and both need the same context and confirmation before a trade.
What is the difference between a shooting star and an evening star?
A shooting star is a single candle. An evening star is a three-candle pattern: a large up candle, a small-bodied candle at the top, then a large down candle that closes well into the first candle's body. A shooting star can be the middle candle of an evening star, with the third candle acting as confirmation.
How reliable is the shooting star candlestick?
The shooting star fails often, and we are not aware of a reliable published success rate for forex or CFD charts, so we do not quote one. It tends to work better at resistance, after an extended rise and with confirmation. Record your own shooting star trades to see how they perform on your markets.
What is the opposite of a shooting star?
The hammer is the opposite of a shooting star. It has a small body near the high and a long lower wick, and it forms at the end of a fall, warning that a decline may be ending. The inverted hammer is the shooting star's twin in shape, but it forms after a fall.
Next steps
The candlestick patterns lesson puts the shooting star alongside the other single-candle and multi-candle signals. Our bear flag pattern guide covers a continuation pattern you may see once a top is in place, and the rules page lists the limits your stop and size need to fit.
You can compare the Classic and Direct routes on the challenges page.