The short answer

A dragonfly doji opens and closes at or very near the high of its range, leaving a long lower wick and effectively no body. Price was pushed well down during the session and every bit of it was recovered by the close.

A dragonfly doji forming after a decline, drawn from the pattern's real open, high, low and close proportions Dragonfly doji

Drawn to the real proportions the formation rules describe. Lead-in candles are dimmed; the pattern itself is bracketed.

  • Traditional bias Bullish
  • Type Reversal
  • Built from One candle
  • Context After a decline

How to spot it

  • Open and close are at or extremely close to the same price.
  • That price sits at or very near the high of the candle's range.
  • A long lower wick, and effectively no upper wick.
  • Most meaningful after a decline or at a level that has held before.

What it actually means

The mirror of the gravestone. Sellers took price a long way down and finished with nothing to show for it, since the close landed back at the session high. In a decline, that is the clearest single-session evidence that supply has been absorbed at this level.

What confirms it

The next candle closing above the doji's high. As with any doji, the pattern itself closes flat, so the following session is doing the directional work.

What invalidates it

A close below the doji's low, which says the level did not hold after all.

Where people get it wrong

The same liquidity caveat as the gravestone: on thin instruments and very short timeframes, a perfect dragonfly is often mechanical rather than meaningful. It is also close enough to a hammer that the names get used interchangeably; the difference is that a hammer has a real body and a dragonfly does not.

Common questions

Is the dragonfly doji bullish or bearish?
The traditional reading is bullish. The mirror of the gravestone. It carries that reading only after a decline.
What confirms a dragonfly doji?
The next candle closing above the doji's high. As with any doji, the pattern itself closes flat, so the following session is doing the directional work.
When does the dragonfly doji stop working?
A close below the doji's low, which says the level did not hold after all. Beyond that, the same liquidity caveat as the gravestone: on thin instruments and very short timeframes, a perfect dragonfly is often mechanical rather than meaningful.

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Formation rules follow Japanese Candlestick Charting Techniques by Steve Nison. Reviewed 2026-09-14.