The short answer
A morning star is a three-candle bottom: a long down candle, then a small-bodied candle that stalls below it, then a long up candle closing well into the first candle's body. It maps selling pressure exhausting itself over three sessions.
Also called: morning star candlestick
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 Three candles
- Context After a decline
How to spot it
- Candle one is a long candle in the direction of the downtrend.
- Candle two has a small body below candle one's body, ideally gapping down.
- Candle three is a long up candle closing above the midpoint of candle one's body.
- The further candle three closes into candle one, the stronger the pattern.
- It must form at the bottom of a visible decline.
What it actually means
The decline is working, then it stalls at a low with neither side able to extend it, then it resolves upward strongly enough to undo most of the first session. The middle candle is the pivot: it is the session where selling stopped being effective, and the third candle is the confirmation that something took its place.
What confirms it
Candle three closing past the midpoint of candle one is most of it. A fourth session continuing higher, and volume expanding on candle three, add to the read.
What invalidates it
A close below the low of candle two, which breaks the base the pattern is built on.
Where people get it wrong
Like its mirror, the middle candle does the work and is where the pattern gets diluted. If candle two does not genuinely stall below candle one's body, this is just a down day and an up day. A morning star inside a range, with no decline preceding it, has nothing to reverse.
Common questions
- Is the morning star bullish or bearish?
- The traditional reading is bullish. The decline is working, then it stalls at a low with neither side able to extend it, then it resolves upward strongly enough to undo most of the first session. It carries that reading only after a decline.
- What confirms a morning star?
- Candle three closing past the midpoint of candle one is most of it. A fourth session continuing higher, and volume expanding on candle three, add to the read.
- When does the morning star stop working?
- A close below the low of candle two, which breaks the base the pattern is built on. Beyond that, like its mirror, the middle candle does the work and is where the pattern gets diluted.
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Formation rules follow Japanese Candlestick Charting Techniques by Steve Nison. Reviewed 2026-09-14.