A marubozu is a candle with no wicks (or very small wicks) — the open and close are at the extreme ends. A bullish marubozu opens at low, closes at high. A bearish marubozu opens at high, closes at low. Marubozus represent maximum conviction and can signal the start of a strong momentum move.
No wicks or extremely small wicks, Full control by buyers (bullish) or sellers (bearish), Often represents breakout moves, Volume should be elevated
Marubozu breaking through key resistance/support, Marubozu occurring on high volume, Opening marubozu (wick only on opening side) at trend continuation points
On bullish marubozu: stop at 50% of the candle's range, hold for continuation. On bearish: inverse. Watch for immediate follow-through.
All timeframes, best on 1H+
A marubozu that also breaks a consolidation range or trendline is an extremely strong signal. The absence of wicks means there was no meaningful opposition.
The hammer and hanging man are single-candle patterns with small real bodies and long lower shadows (at least 2× the body). A hammer appears at the bottom of a downtrend (bullish), while a hanging man appears at the top of an uptrend (bearish). The long wick indicates that sellers pushed price down but buyers recaptured ground.
A bullish engulfing pattern occurs when a large green candle completely engulfs the prior red candle near the bottom of a trend. A bearish engulfing is the opposite — a large red candle swallows the prior green candle at the top. Engulfing patterns are among the most reliable two-candle reversal signals.
Pin bars are single-candle reversal patterns with a long tail (shadow) on one side and a small body on the opposite side. The tail shows a sharp rejection of a price level. Pin bars are the most widely used price action signal among naked chart traders and work on all markets and timeframes.
Doji and spinning top candles signal indecision between buyers and sellers. A doji has nearly identical open and close prices, while a spinning top has a small body with long wicks on both sides. These patterns are most significant at the end of extended trends where they can foreshadow reversals.