How to find entry and exit points for your trade?
The shooting star pattern represents one of the most important candlesticks patterns in trading. It can decide the entries and exits of your trades.
Shooting star candlestick pattern is a bearish reversal pattern that appears at the top of uptrends. How does this pattern appear? A Shooting star candlestick pattern is formed when the price of the open, low, and close is approximately the same.
A shooting star candlestick pattern is actually a bearish candlestick. It’s easy to notice it. It has a long upper shadow, small lower shadow or there is no this shadow at all, but there is a small solid body close to the low of the given day. To make a long story short, a shooting star candlestick pattern appears when the security opens, develops notably, but again closes near the open. Traders-Paradise wrote a lot about how to trade patterns, but this one is extremely important.
How to recognize the Shooting star candlestick pattern
To be sure it is a shooting star pattern, some conditions have to be fulfilled. Firstly, the configuration must be created while the price rises. The other condition is that the shooting star candlestick’s body has to be half the size of a distance between the highest price on the given day and its opening price is. And, the last condition, as we said, there shouldn’t be any shadow near the real body or it can be a bit, barely visible.
The bearish Shooting star candlestick pattern is created only if the low and the close are around the same. Traders recognize this pattern as very strong. When we notice this pattern in the charts it is confirmation that the bears were strong enough to defeat the bulls. Also, it is a confirmation that the bears closed the price below the opening price which means they pushed the price more. The Shooting star candlestick pattern isn’t a hundred percent bearish pattern, but nonetheless it is bearish when the open and low are approximately the same. Remember, they had to close the price BELOW the open. This means the bears were strong enough to halt the bulls but were not capable of sending the price back to what it was worth at the open.
When this pattern may occur?
A shooting star candlestick pattern occurs when the market price is pushed up pretty notably, but then rejects and closes near the open price. This creates a long upper candle, a small lower candle, and a small body.
Why is the shooting star candlestick pattern often seen as a possible signal of bearish reversal? Because the uptrend might not continue, meaning the price may fall. Don’t confuse the shooting star with the inverted hammer candlestick pattern. Yes, both have a longer upper candle and small body. The inverted hammer flags bullish which is opposed to bearish reversal, and it is visible at the bottom of a downtrend, not on the top of an uptrend.
What does the Shooting star candlestick pattern reveal?
A Shooting star candlestick pattern indicates a possible price top and reversal. It is an extremely powerful signal when it occurs after a group of three or more continuous rising candles with higher highs. However, this pattern may happen during a phase of rising prices, even if a few candles were bearish.
When the price advances strong to the top, a shooting star opens and continues to rise greatly over the day. This is a result of strong buying pressure during several periods. What is possible to happen? The sellers will come up to the scene in an attempt to push the price back down, close to the open price, and delete all gains for that day. If they succeed that will mean the buyers don’t have control anymore by the close of the day, and it’s possible the sellers will take over.
In trading charts, the buyers are visible as a long upper shadow.
They are buying during the day but it looks they are losing their positions since the price drops back to the open.
After the shooting star, the candle forms. That is the confirmation of the shooting star candle. If you take a look at the chart you’ll notice the next candle’s high is under the high of the shooting star. Also, you’ll see how the price moves down and close near the close of the shooting star. On heavy volume, the first candle after the shooting star will be lower or will open around the previous close after which it will move lower. That could indicate the price could go down further. In such circumstances, the traders may look for a short sell.
In case the price increases after a shooting star, the price span could serve as resistance. For instance, if the price consolidates in the zone of the shooting star. If the price eventually remains to rise, the uptrend stays unreached, the traders should choose the long positions overselling or shorting.
How to trade the Shooting star candlestick pattern?
For example, the stock is growing in an overall uptrend. The uptrend becomes faster just before the appearance of a shooting star. The shooting star displays the price opened and pushed higher. In charts, it will be visible as an upper shadow, then closed near the open. The next day the price may close lower, which is a confirmation of a possibility for the price to move even lower. If the high of the shooting star wasn’t passed, the price could move in a downtrend for the next few weeks. When trading this pattern, it is a smart decision to sell long positions after the confirmation candle becomes visible.
Let’s say you’re following the Tesla Inc. stock price and it opens the trading day at $990. Well, the price starts going down at $970 but suddenly good news generates the stock price to rise quickly, and it reaches a high of $1.020. Finally, it closes at $1.000. These changes create a shooting star candlestick.
If you want to trade the shooting star candlestick pattern keep in mind that it could indicate a negative reversal, also. In short, market prices may go down.
Limitations of this pattern
Just one candle isn’t important in a major uptrend. Prices are changing. If in one short period the sellers are taking control, it could be irrelevant. That’s why traders need confirmation. They have to sell just after the shooting star, but even with confirmation, they have no guarantees the price will continue to drop. Not even how long. One of the possible scenarios is the price could increase after some short drop and continue to rise in a long-term uptrend.
When trading this pattern you have to use stop-loss orders if you want to reduce the risk. One of the smart decisions is to use this candlestick pattern in combination with other methods of analysis.
Bottom line
The Shooting star candlestick pattern can indicate the end of an uptrend, so traders may decide to reduce the long positions or exit the trades. It is smart to use some other indicators with this pattern to determine potential sell signals. For example, you could wait a day to test if prices will proceed to fall. Also, you can use the break of an upward trendline. More aggressive traders can use the Shooting star candlestick pattern as a sell signal.
The bullish version of the Shooting star pattern is the Inverted hammer pattern. Stay tuned, that’s the next.
