What is the bearish belt hold pattern?
The bearish belt hold is a bearish candlestick pattern. A red candle that opens at its high and moves down after a rally. Sellers are in control from the open.
How to spot a bearish belt hold
- 1Look for a rally that has been running for several bars.
- 2Find a long red candle that opens at or within a hair of its high.
- 3Check it closes near its low, with little or no upper wick.
How does the bearish belt hold form?
A bar opens at or very near its high after an advance and falls from the first print, closing well down its range.
How do you confirm a bearish belt hold?
Check the open sits at the very top. A small upper wick already weakens the reading. Someone was willing to buy higher.
When does the bearish belt hold fail?
It fails when the open was a thin gap up rather than genuine demand meeting supply.
No chart pattern works every time. The examples on this page were chosen because they show the pattern clearly, and in real markets patterns fail often.
Practice on real charts
3 real examples of the bearish belt hold, cut off where the pattern completed. Make your call, then see what happened.
The shaded area is a bearish belt hold. Where did price go next?
Bearish Belt Hold: common questions
Is the bearish belt hold bullish or bearish?
The bearish belt hold is bearish. An open-at-high candle shows distribution starting at the first trade.
How do you spot a bearish belt hold?
Look for a rally that has been running for several bars. Find a long red candle that opens at or within a hair of its high. Check it closes near its low, with little or no upper wick.
What is the difference between the bearish belt hold and the bullish belt hold?
The bearish belt hold: A red candle that opens at its high and moves down after a rally. Sellers are in control from the open. The bullish belt hold: A green candle that opens at its low and moves up after a decline. Buyers are in control from the open.
How reliable is the bearish belt hold?
No chart pattern works every time. It fails when the open was a thin gap up rather than genuine demand meeting supply. That is why it helps to wait for confirmation and to practice on many real examples before relying on it.
How can I practice spotting the bearish belt hold?
Use the real charts on this page: each one stops where the bearish belt hold completed, so you can make a call and then see what happened. The free Chartle app mixes the bearish belt hold in with 48 other patterns in short daily sessions.
Keep learning
- Chart pattern gameGuess where price goes next on real charts, all 49 patterns mixed.
- All 49 chart patternsEvery bullish and bearish pattern, with a printable cheat sheet.
- How to read candlestick chartsBodies, wicks and colors explained from the start.
- Cheat sheet PDFAll patterns on two printable pages.
