Shooting Star
The Shooting Star is a bearish reversal pattern that appears at the top of an uptrend. It has a small body near the bottom of the range and a long upper shadow, showing that buyers pushed prices significantly higher during the session but sellers drove the price back down near the open. It's visually the inverse of a hammer — the shadow points up instead of down.
Shooting Star candlestick pattern diagram
Pattern Anatomy
- Small real body near the bottom of the trading range.
- Long upper shadow — significantly longer than the body.
- Little to no lower shadow.
- Body in the lower portion of the total range.
- Can be either bullish or bearish colored, though red is considered slightly more bearish.
How to Interpret
- Most significant at the top of a sustained uptrend — signals potential exhaustion.
- The long upper shadow shows buyers tried to push higher but were overwhelmed by sellers.
- Confirmation: the next candle should close below the shooting star's body.
- More reliable at known resistance levels.
- Volume spike on the shooting star day adds significance — indicates real selling pressure, not just a thin wick.
How Engulfy Detects the Shooting Star
- Upper shadow must be significantly longer than the body.
- Lower shadow must be small relative to the body.
- Body must be in the lower portion of the candle’s range.
- Total range must be greater than zero.
Unlike the Hammer, the Shooting Star does not distinguish between bullish and bearish body colors — both are reported as ShootingStar.
Expert References
Steve Nison describes the Shooting Star as one of the easiest patterns to spot and one of the most common at market tops, making it a go-to signal for traders watching for bearish reversals. Thomas Bulkowski's statistical research indicates that shooting stars appearing at uptrend tops reverse roughly 59% of the time, giving them a moderate but meaningful edge when combined with confirmation.
Controversy & Limitations
The Shooting Star is a very common pattern, which means it produces many false positives. In strong uptrends, shooting stars frequently get "run over" as momentum continues higher. Some analysts require a gap up open from the prior close for a true shooting star — Engulfy does not require the gap, opting for a more inclusive detection that catches more candidates at the cost of additional noise. Always look for confirmation and consider the broader trend context before acting on this signal alone.