Shooting Star
A shooting star is the bearish mirror of the hammer: price rallies hard during the session but closes back near the low, leaving a long upper wick and a small body. After an advance, it shows sellers rejecting higher prices.
- Bias
- Bearish
- Category
- Candlestick Reversal
- Scan cadence
- Every close
What has to be true for a Shooting Star to trigger
- A long upper wick, substantially longer than the body
- A small real body near the bottom of the range
- Little or no lower wick
- A preceding advance
How PatternGrade grades it
A longer upper wick relative to the body, a smaller body and a clearer preceding advance raise the grade.
Every scanner grades its hits A+, A or B from the pattern's own measurable structure. The grading is deterministic — the same chart always produces the same grade. It describes how closely the chart matches the pattern, not how likely anything is to happen; no hit rate or probability is attached to a grade. The reasoning is set out in the methodology.
What a Shooting Star looks like in practice
After a three-week advance, a stock opens at $76.40, rallies to $80.10 in the first hour, then gives it all back to close at $76.10, slightly below the open. The upper wick is nearly four points, the real body is small and at the bottom of the range, and there is almost no lower wick. Volume is the heaviest in two weeks.
How a Shooting Star fails
Price closes above the shooting star's high and keeps going. A single session of rejection in a strong uptrend is routinely absorbed, and shooting stars appear frequently in advances that continue for months. Without a prior extended run and a level overhead that matters, the bar is usually just a one-session reversal with no lasting significance.
What this pattern is telling you
Like all single-candle signals, a shooting star means little in isolation. At resistance after an extended run it carries more weight.
PatternGrade is not a financial advisor and does not give buy or sell recommendations. Targets and stops shown on a pattern are reference levels derived from its geometry, not advice.
How to scan for Shooting Star setups
PatternGrade rescans every liquid US stock (~4,500 names) for this pattern after every close and returns the hits as a graded list, with the pattern drawn on each chart, so you review setups rather than hunt for them.
Join the waitlist to be invited when sign-ups reopen and see the current Shooting Star list, or browse all 75 patterns.
Shooting Star FAQ
Is a shooting star bearish?
Yes. After an advance it is read as a bearish reversal, showing buyers pushed price up during the session and sellers took it all back.
What defines a shooting star?
An upper wick at least twice the length of the real body, little or no lower wick, a small body near the session's low, and a preceding advance. The same shape after a decline is an inverted hammer and carries a different, bullish reading.
Does the body colour matter?
A close below the open is marginally stronger, but the wick carries the meaning: the market rallied and could not hold any of it. Both colours are conventionally accepted.
Is a shooting star a reliable top signal?
It is a one-day rejection, which is thin evidence for calling a top. It becomes more meaningful when it occurs at a prior high, after an extended run, and on heavy volume, all three of which PatternGrade weights. In isolation it fires far too often to act on alone.
What confirms a shooting star?
A subsequent close below the bar's low, ideally on continued volume. The high of the shooting star is the natural structural invalidation, and PatternGrade draws it as a reference level.
Patterns a Shooting Star is mistaken for
- Gravestone Doji
- A gravestone doji has no real body: open and close are identical at the bottom of the range. A shooting star has a small real body. Same shape, different degree.
- Hanging Man
- A hanging man has a long lower wick after an advance. A shooting star has a long upper wick. Both are bearish in that context but describe opposite action within the session.
- Hammer Reversal
- A hammer is the inverted shape after a decline, read bullishly. Wick direction and preceding trend separate them.
Last reviewed . Structure and grading for the Shooting Star are reviewed against the scanner's own rules.