What is the evening star pattern?
The evening star is a bearish candlestick pattern. Three candles: a long green, a small body stalling above it, then a red candle pushing back down into the first.
How to spot an evening star
- 1Find a long green candle at the end of an advance.
- 2The middle candle has a small body and sits above or at the top of it.
- 3A red third candle closes well down into the first green body.
How does the evening star form?
Three bars: a long green one, a small-bodied bar stalling above it, then a red bar closing well back into the first bar's range.
How do you confirm a evening star?
The middle bar should have a visibly small body, whether it closes up or down. A large middle bar makes this three ordinary bars.
When does the evening star fail?
In a strong uptrend the small middle bar is often just consolidation, and the red bar that follows gets bought before it can close low enough to complete the shape.
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 evening star, cut off where the pattern completed. Make your call, then see what happened.
The shaded area is a evening star. Where did price go next?
Evening Star: common questions
Is the evening star bullish or bearish?
The evening star is bearish. The deeper the third candle closes into the first, the cleaner the signal.
How do you spot an evening star?
Find a long green candle at the end of an advance. The middle candle has a small body and sits above or at the top of it. A red third candle closes well down into the first green body.
What is the difference between the evening star and the morning star?
The evening star: Three candles: a long green, a small body stalling above it, then a red candle pushing back down into the first. The morning star: Three candles: a long red, a small indecisive body gapping lower, then a strong green pushing back into the first.
How reliable is the evening star?
No chart pattern works every time. In a strong uptrend the small middle bar is often just consolidation, and the red bar that follows gets bought before it can close low enough to complete the shape. 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 evening star?
Use the real charts on this page: each one stops where the evening star completed, so you can make a call and then see what happened. The free Chartle app mixes the evening star 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.
