A Beginner's Guide to Bearish Candlestick Patterns (with Cheat Sheet)

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A comprehensive guide on spotting essential candlestick setups

Co-authored by Eric McClure

Last Updated: May 20, 2026 Fact Checked

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Single Candles

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Double Candles

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Triple Candlestick Patterns & More

Whether you’re trading stocks, bonds, forex, or futures, you’re going to spend time looking at a lot of candlestick patterns. In this article, we’re going to cover the most common (and most consistent) bearish signals you’ll encounter when trading. Keep in mind that technical analysis is only one data point you use to spot entries and exits, so be disciplined and practice with paper trading before you try doing anything with a live account.

Bearish Candlestick Patterns Cheat Sheet

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An illustrated compilation of the most popular bearish candlestick patterns used by traders.

In technical analysis, it’s important to keep an eye out for bearish candlestick patterns and other signals suggesting downward trends—even if you’re a long-only trader. Keep in mind that technical analysis can help you identify key areas, but it is not a foolproof way to make money in trading.

Section 1 of 3:

Single Candle Patterns

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Hanging Man The hanging man is a tight, red candle with a long wick sticking out the bottom. You can remember it because the candle looks a little bit like a head and the wick resembles a body.^{[1]
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- Why is it bearish? It’s a sign the price is struggling to push higher. If you’re bullish, that long wick may be tempting, but it’s just a sign there’s lots of activity below the current price.
- A note on all patterns in this article: We are assuming you’re using the standard charting settings where green signals a higher close, wicks represent intraday highs/lows, and you have traditional candles displayed. If you use alternative charting settings, the patterns will appear different in your software.
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Shooting Star The shooting star is the inverse of a hanging man. It’s a small, dense red candle with a long wick sticking out the top.^{[2]
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- Why is it bearish? It signals that any upward momentum isn’t sticky. The price action is likely to continue lower, since that’s where the buyers seem to be waiting.
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Gravestone Doji The gravestone doji looks like a big upside-down “T.” There’s basically no candle body, but there’s a huge wick sticking out the top of the thin candle.^{[3]
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- Why is it bearish? It’s an extreme version of the shooting star—there’s just no volume or confidence in an upwards move, so the candle opens and closes in the same area.
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Bearish Spinning Top Named after the shape of a children’s top, the spinning top is a tiny candle with a long wick sticking out of both the top and bottom of the candle’s body. As a note, this is the exact same candle and wick setup as a bullish spinning top, but the candle is red.^{[4]
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- Why is it bearish? This is a big sign of volatility. Huge wicks on a tiny candle just scream, “We have no idea what’s going on.” The negative close on a bearish spinning top implies the sentiment is bearish, though.

Section 2 of 3:

Double Candle Patterns

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Bearish Kicker A bearish kicker occurs when a big green candle is followed by a red candle that gaps down below it. The wicks may slightly overlap, but the bodies of the candles won’t.^{[5]
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- Why is it bearish? Gapping down is pretty bearish on its own, but the fact that the price continues to fall after gapping down indicates there just isn’t any meaningful buying support at the current levels.
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Bearish Engulfing A bearish engulfing candle appears when a green candle is followed by a huge red candle that eclipses the green candle both at the top and the bottom. Neither the wicks nor the candle body of the first candle can surpass the red candle for this to count.^{[6]
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- Why is it bearish? This is a major negative reversal signal. The positive action is wiped away by the second period’s price action and the momentum is dragging it down.
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Bearish Harami Following an uptrend, a bearish Harami appears when there is a large green candle followed by a smaller red candle that is fully engulfed by the candle behind it.^{[7]
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- Why is it bearish? It’s a reversal pattern. It signals that the uptrend’s momentum may be drying up and/or short sellers are starting to build positions.
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Dark Cloud Cover The dark cloud cover pattern occurs after an uptrend when a green candle gaps up, and it’s followed by a red candle with a higher high and higher low. Importantly, the top of the red candle must surpass the green candle at the top but not the bottom for this to qualify.^{[8]
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- Why is it bearish? This is pretty common after strong moves up. It happens when a big gap up is followed by a tinier gap up, which freaks out bulls who begin offloading their positions.
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Tweezer Top The tweezer top is defined by a large green candle with small wicks on either side, followed by a small red candle where the top wick is on the same horizontal plane as the previous candle.^{[9]
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- Why is it bearish? It’s a sign the market isn’t interested in the price where the two wicks are lining up. It’s a reversal pattern that indicates upward moves are likely to be rejected.

Section 3 of 3:

Triple Candlestick Patterns & More

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Evening Star An evening star occurs when a robust green candle is followed by a gap up, then a small red candle is followed by a bigger red candle. The base of the third candle must pass the close of the first green candle for this to count.^{[10]
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- Why is it bearish? This is a huge sign of volatility. A gap up followed by a gap down screams liquidity is drying up, and the downward price action would indicate things aren’t going to get better soon.
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Evening Doji Star The evening doji star is identical to the evening star except instead of gapping up after the green candle, a red candle opens and closes near the top of the previous close (a big red candle ends the pattern).^{[11]
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- Why is it bearish? It’s a very tight sign that a reversal has occurred. There’s no support where the doji opens and closes, so the selling pressure drives everything down.
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Bearish Abandoned Baby The expressively-named abandoned baby occurs when there’s a green candle, a big gap up that closes in a small red candle, and then a gap down where you see a red candle.^{[12]
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- Why is it bearish? This is the “oh, something really bad happened” pattern. The gap up signals that there should be enormous upside momentum, but the immediate rejection there is an indicator that the market has clearly changed its mind.
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Three Black Crows The bearish version of the iconic three white soldiers pattern, three black crows is simply three robust, red candles that follow one another and gently lead down. It’s one of the more consistent patterns for momentum traders.^{[13]
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- Why is it bearish? It’s evidence that bears are firmly in charge. The sustained selling pressure is a warning to stay away if you’re bullish, as the market is clearly uninterested in buying.
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Bearish Three Line Strike A bearish three line strike occurs when three white soldiers are followed by a big red candle that engulfs all of the previous candles. The bearish three line strike is, by some measures, the single most consistent pattern trading-wise. Bearish price action follows this pattern roughly 84% of the time.^{[14]
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- Why is it bearish? It’s about as strong of a momentum rejection as you could possibly imagine. Wiping out all of the previous upward progress is a major sign that sellers are running the show here.
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Three Inside Down This pattern appears when a large green candle is followed by two red candles. The first red candle is fully engulfed by the previous candle, then the last red candle closes lower than the green candle opened.^{[15]
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- Why is it bearish? It signals the market wasn’t totally sure what to do after a robust upward move. That uncertainty leads to more sell-side interest. It’s a popular setup among short sellers for this reason, as it’s often an early sign that serious bearish pressure is on the horizon.
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Three Outside Down The “inside” part of three inside down is that the red candles are engulfed by the green one. The “outside” part here indicates it’s the reverse—the green candle is tiny and gets engulfed by the two red candles.^{[16]
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- Why is it bearish? This is another uncertainty signal, but the party probably started for the short sellers. There’s less ambiguity here than the inside down variation of the signal, since the red candles are so much bigger.