Trading term

What is Evening star (candlestick)?

An evening star is a three-candle bearish reversal made up of a large up candle, a small-bodied candle that gaps higher, and then a large down candle. That third candle closes well into the first one's body, marking buying exhaustion at a top.

The sequence inverts the morning star. A strong up candle extends the rally. The next candle gaps up but makes almost no progress — a small body at a new high, which says buyers got their higher price and could do nothing with it. The third candle then sells off hard and closes well down inside the first candle's body.

As with its bullish twin, the standard requirement is that the third candle closes below the midpoint of the first candle's body, and the deeper it closes the stronger the signal. The star candle's colour is not important; its small size is the whole point.

The pattern is most meaningful at the end of an extended advance or into a known resistance level. Mid-trend, it is far more likely to be a pause than a top.

Rally, stall, sell-off
IN CONTEXTA strong up day, a stall at a new high, then a decisive sell-off.ZOOMED INmidpoint of c1 bodyc1starc3The third candle must close below the MIDPOINT of the first body — here $123.00.

The star gaps to a new high and does nothing with it. The third candle closes at $121.40, below the $123.00 midpoint of the first body — the rally is finished.

For example

A stock rallies from $120.00 to close at $126.00. The next candle gaps up and stalls in a narrow $126.40–$127.60 range — the star. The third opens at $126.40 and falls to close at $121.40, below the $123.00 midpoint of the first candle's body. The rally is done.

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Why it matters to you

The evening star catches the moment a trend stops working rather than the moment it has already broken — the stall happens at the highs, before the damage. For anyone holding a position, that is the difference between exiting near the top and exiting after the first sharp leg down.

⚠ A small candle at the highs is not automatically a top

Strong uptrends pause constantly, and every pause produces a small-bodied candle near the highs. Without the third candle closing decisively below the first body's midpoint, you have a consolidation, not an evening star — and consolidations inside strong trends usually resolve upward.

Frequently asked questions

What is an evening star candlestick pattern?

It's a three-candle bearish reversal: a large up candle, a small-bodied candle that gaps higher, and a large down candle closing below the midpoint of the first candle's body. It signals that a rally has run out of buyers.

Is the evening star a reliable reversal signal?

It's among the more respected candlestick patterns because it requires a three-candle sequence. It works best at the end of an extended rally or at resistance, with the third candle closing deep into the first body and on rising volume.

Does the star candle's colour matter?

No. What matters is that the middle candle has a small body, showing the market gapped to a new high and then did nothing with it. Whether it closes marginally up or down is not part of the definition.

What's the difference between an evening star and a shooting star?

An evening star is a three-candle pattern; a shooting star is a single candle with a long upper wick. Both signal failed buying at a top, but the evening star's extra candles make it a more demanding and generally stronger signal.

Related terms

Anchored VWAPAnchored VWAP is a volume-weighted average price that starts from one candle you choose, rather than resetting at the start of each session. You anchor it to a meaningful event — an earnings gap, a major low, a breakout — and it tracks the average price everyone has paid since.Ascending triangleAn ascending triangle is a bullish continuation pattern: a flat horizontal resistance line on top, with a rising trendline of higher lows beneath it. As the higher lows squeeze price against the ceiling, pressure builds — and it usually resolves with a breakout up through the resistance.ATR (Average True Range)ATR (Average True Range) measures how much a security typically moves in a period — its volatility — as an average of recent trading ranges. It doesn't say which direction price is heading, only how far it tends to travel, which makes it a core tool for stop-losses and position size.Bearish engulfingA bearish engulfing is a two-candle reversal pattern in which an up candle is followed by a down candle whose body completely covers it. The second candle opens above the previous close and closes below the previous open.
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