What is the dragonfly doji pattern?
The dragonfly doji is a bullish candlestick pattern. Open, close and high all sit near the same level with a long lower shadow. Sellers pushed price down and buyers recovered every bit.
How to spot a dragonfly doji
- 1Find a candle whose open, close and high are almost the same price.
- 2Check for a long lower shadow and little or no upper shadow.
- 3It matters most after a decline or at a support level.
How does the dragonfly doji form?
Open, close and high all sit at nearly the same level, with a long lower shadow. Price fell hard and came all the way back.
How do you confirm a dragonfly doji?
The body must be tiny and sit at the top of the range. A doji with a body in the middle is a spinning top and says something different.
When does the dragonfly doji fail?
The whole day's range being rejected is dramatic but not directional; if the next bar makes a new low, the rejection was simply absorbed.
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 dragonfly doji, cut off where the pattern completed. Make your call, then see what happened.
The shaded area is a dragonfly doji. Where did price go next?
Dragonfly Doji: common questions
Is the dragonfly doji bullish or bearish?
The dragonfly doji is bullish. The whole session's range was rejected. That is a lot of information in one bar.
How do you spot a dragonfly doji?
Find a candle whose open, close and high are almost the same price. Check for a long lower shadow and little or no upper shadow. It matters most after a decline or at a support level.
What is the difference between the dragonfly doji and the gravestone doji?
The dragonfly doji: Open, close and high all sit near the same level with a long lower shadow. Sellers pushed price down and buyers recovered every bit. The gravestone doji: Open, close and low sit together with a long upper shadow. Buyers rallied the price and sellers slammed it back down.
How reliable is the dragonfly doji?
No chart pattern works every time. The whole day's range being rejected is dramatic but not directional; if the next bar makes a new low, the rejection was simply absorbed. 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 dragonfly doji?
Use the real charts on this page: each one stops where the dragonfly doji completed, so you can make a call and then see what happened. The free Chartle app mixes the dragonfly doji 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.
