Shooting star and inverted hammer
You will learn to
- The upside-down pair
- Why the shooting star is stronger
- What confirms the inverted hammer
The shape
Small body near the bottom of the range, a long upper wick at least twice the body, little or no lower wick.
Two names again
After a rally it is a shooting star: buyers pushed to a new high and were thrown back — a clear rejection. After a decline it is an inverted hammer: buyers made a first attempt that failed by the close. The inverted hammer is the weaker signal and needs a strong green candle after it to mean anything.
Trading it
A shooting star at resistance, ideally with its wick poking above a prior high (a sweep), confirmed by the next candle closing below its body. Stop above the wick high; failure is a close above it.
What our backtest found
Shooting star as an entry: no edge on any timeframe tested (−0.19 to +0.02R per trade).Advertisement
Check yourself
1. A long upper wick after a rally shows…
- Buyers were rejected at higher prices ✓
- Buyers are winning
- Low volume
The market went up and could not hold it.
2. Which needs more confirmation?
- Shooting star at resistance
- Inverted hammer after a decline ✓
- They are identical
The inverted hammer shows a failed rally attempt — weak evidence until buyers follow through.
Terms in this lesson
- Inverted hammer
- The shooting-star shape after a decline; needs strong confirmation.
- Shooting star
- Small body, long upper wick, after a rally.
Practise it on real charts. In the app, this lesson comes with real examples (reveal what happened next), a graded drill and the track test. Open the Academy in NexusCore — free →