What is the bearish kicker pattern?
The bearish kicker is a bearish candlestick pattern. Price gaps down and never recovers: a green candle is followed by a red candle opening below it.
How to spot a bearish kicker
- 1Find a green candle, ideally after a move up.
- 2The next candle opens below the green candle's open, with a gap.
- 3It stays red and never trades back up into the green candle.
How does the bearish kicker form?
A green bar, then the next bar opens below it and never trades back into it.
How do you confirm a bearish kicker?
Kickers usually follow news. Check whether the gap holds through the session, because that is what distinguishes a shift from a spike.
When does the bearish kicker fail?
A gap down that fills the same day says the market absorbed whatever caused it, and the shape loses its meaning.
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 kicker, cut off where the pattern completed. Make your call, then see what happened.
The shaded area is a bearish kicker. Where did price go next?
Bearish Kicker: common questions
Is the bearish kicker bullish or bearish?
The bearish kicker is bearish. A bearish kicker often follows news; the gap rarely fills quickly.
How do you spot a bearish kicker?
Find a green candle, ideally after a move up. The next candle opens below the green candle's open, with a gap. It stays red and never trades back up into the green candle.
What is the difference between the bearish kicker and the bullish kicker?
The bearish kicker: Price gaps down and never recovers: a green candle is followed by a red candle opening below it. The bullish kicker: Price gaps up and never looks back: a red candle is followed by a green candle opening above it.
How reliable is the bearish kicker?
No chart pattern works every time. A gap down that fills the same day says the market absorbed whatever caused it, and the shape loses its meaning. 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 kicker?
Use the real charts on this page: each one stops where the bearish kicker completed, so you can make a call and then see what happened. The free Chartle app mixes the bearish kicker 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.
