Trading term

What is Gravestone doji?

A gravestone doji is a candle whose open, close and low all sit at the bottom of its range, leaving a long upper wick and no lower one. Buyers pushed price up during the period and sellers took the entire move back.

A doji is any candle whose open and close are effectively equal. The gravestone is the version where that shared price sits at the low of the candle: price rallied hard, then returned all the way to where it started, printing a shape like an upside-down T.

The story is one of complete failure. Everyone who bought during the advance is, by the close, holding at a loss or at breakeven, and the entire upward attempt has been erased in a single period. When this happens after a sustained rally, at resistance, or into a prior high, it's read as a warning that the buying has run out of participants.

It is the exact mirror of the dragonfly doji, where the shared open and close sit at the high. Both are members of the doji family and both are read primarily by location: the same candle at the top of an extended rally and in the middle of a quiet range mean very different things.

Everything gained, then given back
IN CONTEXTA rally, then a candle that gives back everything it gained.ZOOMED INhigh — the failed pushlong upper wickopen = close = lowbearish at a topOpen, close and low all at the bottom. Buyers ran it up; sellers took it all back.

The candle opens and closes at its low but spikes to $79.40 first, leaving a long upper wick and no lower one. Buyers pushed; sellers took the entire move back.

For example

After a four-session rally a stock opens at $75.10, runs to $79.40, then sells off all afternoon and closes at $75.15 — a fraction above its $75.00 low. The candle is almost all upper wick. Over the next four sessions price falls to $67.80.

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Why it matters to you

The gravestone marks a precise price where buying failed completely — the high of that wick. That gives you both a warning that the trend may be ending and an exact level to trade against: if price later closes above the wick's high, the failure has been overcome and the bearish read is cleanly invalidated.

⚠ It's a warning, and it needs confirmation

A single candle does not reverse a trend, and strong trends produce plenty of failed pushes on the way up. Most traders wait for the following candle to close lower before acting. A gravestone appearing in a quiet range, rather than at the top of an extended move, carries almost no information at all.

Frequently asked questions

What is a gravestone doji?

It's a candle where the open, close and low are all at the bottom of the range, leaving a long upper wick and effectively no lower wick. It shows that a rally within the period was completely reversed by the close.

Is a gravestone doji bullish or bearish?

It's read as bearish, but only in the right place — at the top of an extended rally or at resistance. The same candle in the middle of a range is noise. It signals failed buying, not a guaranteed reversal.

What's the difference between a gravestone and a dragonfly doji?

They're mirror images. A gravestone has its open, close and low at the bottom with a long upper wick, showing failed buying. A dragonfly has its open, close and high at the top with a long lower wick, showing failed selling.

How do you trade a gravestone doji?

Traders typically wait for the next candle to close below the doji's body before treating the signal as confirmed, and place a stop just above the upper wick's high. That wick's extreme is the price at which the failed-buying read stops being true.

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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