Three White Soldiers
Three white soldiers is a three-candle bullish reversal made of three consecutive up sessions, each with a substantial real body closing near its high, and each opening within the prior candle's body. It signals sustained buying rather than a single burst.
- Bias
- Bullish
- Category
- Candlestick Reversal
- Scan cadence
- Every close
What has to be true for a Three White Soldiers to trigger
- Three consecutive up candles
- Each with a meaningful real body, closing near its high
- Each opening within the previous candle's body
- Small upper wicks, showing closes are not being faded
How PatternGrade grades it
Larger bodies, smaller upper wicks and a clearer preceding decline 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 Three White Soldiers looks like in practice
After a two-month decline, a stock posts three consecutive up sessions: $41.20 to $43.60, then $43.40 to $45.90, then $45.70 to $48.20. Each opens within the prior candle's body, each closes near its own high, each real body is substantial rather than a token gain, and volume rises modestly across the three. Upper wicks are short throughout.
How a Three White Soldiers fails
The third soldier has a long upper wick and a weak close. That is the classic exhaustion tell, buyers pushing and being met with supply, and it frequently marks a short-term top rather than the start of a reversal. The pattern is also, by the time it completes, three strong days into a move, which means any entry taken on it is already extended and the structural invalidation sits well below.
What this pattern is telling you
Three strong up days in a row also means the stock is short-term extended. The pattern is a reversal signal and an overbought reading at the same time.
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 Three White Soldiers 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 Three White Soldiers list, or browse all 75 patterns.
Three White Soldiers FAQ
What do three white soldiers indicate?
Three consecutive strong up sessions closing near their highs, read as a sustained shift from selling to buying, typically after a decline.
What makes three white soldiers valid?
Three consecutive up sessions, each with a substantial real body, each closing near its high, and each opening within the previous candle's body. That last condition matters. Three up days with large gaps between them is a different and more fragile pattern.
Is three white soldiers a strong signal?
It is a genuine demonstration of sustained buying, which is more than most single-candle patterns offer. The trade-off is that it is late: by the time the third candle closes the stock has already made a substantial move, so the entry is extended relative to any sensible invalidation level.
What weakens the pattern?
Long upper wicks, especially on the third candle, and shrinking real bodies across the three. Both suggest the advance is meeting resistance. Declining volume across the sequence is a third warning. PatternGrade weights all three.
Does it need a downtrend before it?
For the reversal reading, yes. Three strong up days in an existing uptrend are continuation, not reversal, and are far less notable. PatternGrade requires the preceding decline.
Patterns a Three White Soldiers is mistaken for
- Morning Star
- Three candles, but down-indecisive-up. Three white soldiers are three consecutive strong up candles.
- Three Black Crows
- The bearish mirror: three consecutive strong down candles after an advance.
- Bullish Engulfing
- Two candles defined by body containment. Three white soldiers is a three-session sequence with no containment requirement.
Last reviewed . Structure and grading for the Three White Soldiers are reviewed against the scanner's own rules.