5 Candle Patterns

Try free stock charting on AAPL

Explore Apple (AAPL) end-of-day charts, indicators, drawing tools, and native Square of 9 and Gann Hexagon overlays in your browser. The free demo needs no signup or credit card and has no timed trial. Demo work is not saved; other symbols and saving require membership.

Open the free AAPL chart · See membership pricing

Candlestick Patterns

5 Candle Patterns

Body relationships describe control between buyers and sellers; wicks show rejected prices. Textbook gaps are more relevant to session-based markets than continuously traded crypto or FX. The diagrams are schematics, not minimum tick-by-tick specifications.

Candlestick anatomy schematicHighCloseOpenLow

Candle Anatomy

Four Prices, One Period

The real body spans open to close; the upper and lower wicks reach the period's high and low. A bullish candle closes above its open, while a bearish candle closes below. Color alone does not show whether the close is above or below the previous candle.

Pattern rules should use completed bars unless the strategy explicitly tests intrabar behavior. The active candle remains provisional until its timeframe closes.

Bullish continuation candidate

Rising Three Methods

5 bars shown
Rising Three Methods candlestick schematic12345
Context
Appears during an established advance when price pauses without surrendering the first candle's range.
Structure
A long bullish candle is followed by three small pullback candles contained within its range, then a fifth bullish candle closes above the first candle's high.
Confirmation
Require the fifth candle to close above the first candle's high; an intrabar poke is not confirmation.
Failure / risk
A pullback candle breaking the first candle's low, or a fifth candle failing to resume the advance, invalidates the strict formation.
Bearish continuation candidate

Falling Three Methods

5 bars shown
Falling Three Methods candlestick schematic12345
Context
Appears during an established decline when price pauses without reclaiming the first candle's range.
Structure
A long bearish candle is followed by three small rebound candles contained within its range, then a fifth bearish candle closes below the first candle's low.
Confirmation
Require the fifth candle to close below the first candle's low; an intrabar poke is not confirmation.
Failure / risk
A rebound candle breaking the first candle's high, or a fifth candle failing to resume the decline, invalidates the strict formation.
Bullish continuation candidate

Bullish Mat Hold

5 bars shown
Bullish Mat Hold candlestick schematic12345
Context
Appears in an established advance after a strong bullish expansion candle.
Structure
A long bullish candle is followed by three small candles that hold in the upper portion of its range, then a fifth bullish candle closes at a new formation high.
Confirmation
Require the fifth candle to close above every earlier high in the formation.
Failure / risk
A pullback through the first candle's midpoint or low invalidates the strict continuation structure.
Bearish continuation candidate

Bearish Mat Hold

5 bars shown
Bearish Mat Hold candlestick schematic12345
Context
Appears in an established decline after a strong bearish expansion candle.
Structure
A long bearish candle is followed by three small candles that hold in the lower portion of its range, then a fifth bearish candle closes at a new formation low.
Confirmation
Require the fifth candle to close below every earlier low in the formation.
Failure / risk
A rebound through the first candle's midpoint or high invalidates the strict continuation structure.
Bullish reversal candidate

Bullish Breakaway

5 bars shown
Bullish Breakaway candlestick schematic12345
Context
Appears late in a decline after downside extension loses control.
Structure
Four candles extend or hold the decline, then a strong fifth bullish candle closes back through most of the intervening decline without fully erasing the first candle.
Confirmation
Require the fifth bullish candle to close above the second candle's open while remaining below the first candle's open.
Failure / risk
A fifth candle that cannot reclaim the intervening decline, or a later break of the formation low, invalidates the reversal candidate.
Bearish reversal candidate

Bearish Breakaway

5 bars shown
Bearish Breakaway candlestick schematic12345
Context
Appears late in an advance after upside extension loses control.
Structure
Four candles extend or hold the advance, then a strong fifth bearish candle closes back through most of the intervening rise without fully erasing the first candle.
Confirmation
Require the fifth bearish candle to close below the second candle's open while remaining above the first candle's open.
Failure / risk
A fifth candle that cannot retrace the intervening rise, or a later break of the formation high, invalidates the reversal candidate.
Back to Docs