Kicker and Window (Gap) Candlestick Patterns

Both Kicker and Window are built on gaps — price openings that do not overlap the prior candle's range. These patterns turn gap-based sentiment shifts into tradeable structures.

The Kicker pattern

A kicker is a two-candle reversal with a gap and a color change:

• Bullish kicker: a bearish candle followed by a bullish candle that gaps up — opening above the prior candle's high — and closes near its high. No overlap between the two candles' ranges.
• Bearish kicker: a bullish candle followed by a bearish candle that gaps down, opening below the prior low, closing near its low.

The kicker signals an abrupt sentiment flip — news, earnings, or an overnight order imbalance that reversed control with no ambiguity.

Trading rules:

• Entry: on the kicker candle's close (the gap candle). Do not wait — the gap is the signal.
• Stop: beyond the first candle's extreme (below the bearish candle's low for bullish kicker).
• Target: measured move equal to the first candle's range projected from the kicker close, minimum 2:1 R:R.
• Filter: kicker candle volume ≥1.5× average. A kicker on thin volume is a low-participation gap — suspect.

The Window (Japanese gap)

In Japanese candlestick theory, a gap is called a Window — and Windows act as support or resistance until filled. Three rules govern them:

1. A Window up is support: price tends to return to the upper edge of an up-gap and bounce. Buy the retest of the gap's upper edge.
2. A Window down is resistance: price tends to return to the lower edge of a down-gap and reject. Sell the retest.
3. A filled Window loses its power: once price closes back through the gap, the Window is nullified.

Trading the Window retest:

• Entry: on a reversal candle at the gap's edge (hammer at the top of an up-gap, shooting star at the bottom of a down-gap).
• Stop: 1 tick inside the gap (beyond the edge being tested). If the gap fills, exit.
• Target: the prior swing high/low or 1:1 measured move.

Kicker vs Window

Property	Kicker	Window
Candles	2	Any gap
Signal	Reversal	Support/resistance
Entry timing	Immediate (gap candle close)	On retest
Holding period	Short (1–3 candles)	Until filled or target

Common mistakes

• Treating every gap as a Window that holds: thin gaps on low volume fill immediately. Require the gap to be ≥0.3×ATR wide and on ≥1.3× average volume.
• Chasing the kicker without a stop: kickers can reverse on gap-fade. Always use the stop beyond the first candle.
• Ignoring the HTF trend: a bullish kicker against a strong downtrend is often a gap-fade trap.

Gaps reveal sentiment. The kicker trades the flip; the Window trades the retest. Both require volume and trend alignment to separate real gaps from noise.