Shooting Star: Bearish Reversal at Tops
The shooting star is a bearish reversal candlestick that forms after an uptrend and warns of a potential top.
What Is a Shooting Star?
The shooting star is a bearish reversal candlestick pattern that forms after an uptrend. Its name comes from its visual resemblance to a shooting star streaking across the sky — a small body with a long upper wick. The pattern suggests that buyers pushed price higher during the session, but sellers rejected the advance and pulled price back down by the close.
What the Pattern Looks Like
The shooting star has three defining characteristics:
- A small real body at the lower end of the trading range
- A long upper shadow at least twice the length of the body
- Little to no lower shadow
The body can be green or red, though a red body is considered slightly stronger because it shows sellers won the session. The key feature is the long upper wick, indicating rejection of higher prices.
What It Signals
The shooting star signals that buying pressure is exhausting. Even though buyers drove price up significantly during the session, sellers regained control and closed near the open. When this happens after a prolonged uptrend, it often marks a potential top.
| Signal Strength | Condition |
|---|---|
| Strong | Long upper wick, red body, high volume |
| Moderate | Average wick, mixed body color |
| Weak | Short upper wick, green body, low volume |
How to Trade It
- Confirm the uptrend. The shooting star only matters after an established advance. In a downtrend, the same shape is called an "inverted hammer" and is bullish.
- Wait for confirmation. Enter only after a bearish candle closes below the shooting star's low.
- Place your stop-loss above the shooting star's high to protect against continued buying.
- Target recent support. Aim for the most recent swing low as your profit target.
Trading Example
A stock rallies from $70 to $88 over a month. On day 32, price opens at $88.20, spikes to $90 intraday, then closes back at $88.30 — forming a shooting star. The next day, a strong red candle closes at $86.50. This confirmation gives traders a reason to enter short with a stop above $90.
Common Mistakes
- Trading the shooting star before confirmation
- Using it in downtrends (where it's actually bullish as an inverted hammer)
- Ignoring overhead resistance, which strengthens the bearish case
- Setting stops too tight and getting stopped out by noise
The shooting star is one of the most popular topping patterns because it's easy to identify and tends to mark meaningful reversals when combined with resistance levels and volume analysis. Pair it with other bearish signals for the highest-probability short setups.