Candlestick Pattern Identifier

This candlestick pattern identifier checks prices you enter by hand. Supply a candle's open, high, low and close, plus the previous close, to see a pattern label, body percentage and upper-shadow measurement, the distance above the body. It does not scan a stock list or read a chart image. The form lacks the previous candle details needed for a full engulfing-pattern check.

Read the candle before naming the pattern

OHLC means open, high, low and close. Each set belongs to a particular chart period. As CME Group explains, the thick candle body runs between the opening and closing prices; the thin wicks extend towards the period's high and low. A wick is also called a shadow.

A close above the open gives a rising body; a close below the open gives a falling body. Chart colours depend on platform settings, so read the prices rather than relying on green or red alone. The candlestick charts guide introduces those parts before the pattern names.

Candle shape and movement since the previous close answer different questions. A candle can close above its own open while remaining below the preceding close. That is why the body direction alone cannot describe the whole move between chart periods.

The prices this form actually accepts

• Open Price: the opening price for the candle being examined. Keep the instrument and chart period consistent across its prices.
• High Price: the highest traded price within that same candle. It should be at least as high as both the open and close.
• Low Price: the lowest traded price within that candle. It should be no higher than either the open or close.
• Close Price: the final price of a completed candle. A developing candle's current price may still change its eventual shape.
• Previous Close: the close of the immediately preceding candle on the same chart, rather than automatically the previous trading day.

There is no symbol selector, timeframe menu, date-range search or volume filter in this form. Obtain the prices from the chart you are studying and enter them explicitly. Reusing a quote from another exchange, contract or chart period would create a candle that did not represent the intended observation.

Check inconsistent inputs yourself. The calculation can expand its high-low boundaries to contain the open and close instead of rejecting them. A neat result after a typing error does not establish that your price record is valid. Empty or zero fields can also invoke built-in values, so review the entered prices before interpreting an output.

Body size and upper shadow: the arithmetic underneath

Body size is the absolute distance between close and open. Range is high minus low. Body Percent expresses the body as a share of that range and is rounded to a whole percentage in the output. A small body means open and close were near each other relative to the full range, even if the price travelled far during the period.

Upper Shadow is the high minus whichever is greater, open or close. Its unit is the same price unit as your inputs. It is a distance, rather than another share price or a percentage. Lower shadow would similarly be the lower of open and close minus the low, but that measurement is not among this page's displayed outputs.

The calculation chooses a pattern name from its fixed tests. The name describes the rule that matched. It does not prove the prior trend, a future reversal, the available trading price or a profitable entry. Pattern definitions can also differ between educational references and software implementations.

The rules this identifier uses

The labels come from fixed tests on the five prices you enter. Knowing them tells you why a candle got its name and where it would miss a pattern that a textbook would accept. Body means the distance between open and close. Range means high minus low. A shadow is the wick beyond the body.

Several things follow. A doji here is any candle with a body under a tenth of its range, which is looser than a textbook doji with identical open and close. The hammer family is separated by body colour and Previous Close, not by the trend that came before, so the same shape can get a different name from your chart platform. Engulfing labels need earlier candle prices that the form does not take, as explained below. Treat every label as a description of the numbers.

Worked example: a small body inside a wide range

For a made-up candle, enter Open Price ₹100, High Price ₹110, Low Price ₹90, Close Price ₹101 and Previous Close ₹100. These values are only a measurement exercise, with no company, index or historical trading day attached.

The current rule labels this example DOJI and displays Body Percent as 5%. Its Upper Shadow is 9. The internal rule allows a small body for the doji family, whereas a strict textbook doji has the same opening and closing price. Keep that distinction in mind when comparing software labels with a diagram.

The open-to-close rise in this exercise is ₹1, yet its full range is ₹20. The candle therefore records movement on both sides of the body. It does not reveal the exact sequence in which the high and low occurred. Many different price paths can share these same summary prices.

Why this form cannot validate an engulfing pattern

Fidelity describes an engulfing formation as a later candle body completely covering the earlier body. Comparing those bodies requires the earlier open as well as the earlier close. Previous Close alone does not locate both ends of that earlier body.

This form omits the previous open, high and low. Its engulfing checks need earlier prices that you cannot enter here, and they do not establish whether the later body covers the earlier one. A missing engulfing label therefore cannot rule out a formation visible on your chart.

For the definitions, compare the bullish engulfing explanation and the bearish engulfing explanation against the actual consecutive candle bodies. This identifier should be used with its stated measurement limits.

Two- and three-candle patterns: a by-eye checklist

Patterns built from several candles need more history than this form accepts, so check them on the chart. For each one, write down the candle prices first, then test the conditions.

Compare bodies, not wicks, for the engulfing and harami tests. Also check the trend before the pattern: the names assume a prior move that the pattern might reverse, and the same shape in the middle of a range means less. The glossary entries for bullish engulfing, harami and morning star give fuller definitions.

Shape, surrounding trend and the reliability label

A single set of candle prices contains no history of the earlier trend. This tool cannot check whether a long-shadow shape appeared after an advance, a decline or a sideways period. Its hammer-family labels also use restrictive colour conditions without assessing that history, so treat the names as rough rule matches.

Reliability is assigned by the same conditions that assign the name. The form contains no sample of past outcomes, definition of a winning trade, holding period for a result or transaction-cost record. A word such as HIGH cannot establish a percentage chance of profit. No measured accuracy figure is provided here.

If you record a candle in a journal, keep the observation separate from the decision: the completed candle prices, the name you considered, the surrounding chart conditions and what subsequently happened. Do not rewrite the earlier description to fit the outcome. Fidelity's discussion of pattern limits warns about seeing patterns without evidence.

Patterns people mix up

• Hammer and hanging man: the shape is the same, a small body with a long lower shadow. A hammer is read after a decline and a hanging man after an advance. This form has no hanging man label and judges hammers by body colour.
• Inverted hammer and shooting star: both have a long upper shadow and a small body. The inverted hammer is read after a decline, the shooting star after an advance. This form separates them by body colour and the Previous Close instead.
• Doji and spinning top: both have small bodies. Here a doji has a body under 10% of the range and a spinning top sits between 10% and 40%, with shadows on both sides.

The lesson is that the shape alone cannot decide the name. Context does, and the chart platform has to supply it. When your chart software and this form disagree, compare the measurements first and the definitions second.

Confirmation: context, volume and the next candle

A candle shape is more informative at a level you already identified than in the middle of nothing. A long lower shadow at a support level where buyers earlier stepped in says something different from the same shadow in the middle of a quiet range. The support and resistance guide explains how to mark those levels.

• Location: is the candle at a level you marked before it formed?
• Volume: did more shares or contracts trade than in the candles around it? Volume is a separate input, which this form does not take. Index data often has no volume of its own.
• The next candle: does the following candle close in the direction the pattern suggests? Many traders wait for it, accepting a later entry and a wider stop in exchange for a check.
• Your stop: where does the idea fail, and is the loss to that point one you accept?

None of this turns a pattern into a prediction. Journal the pattern, the location, what you did and what happened, and judge your own results over many trades.

Want automatic chart scanning?

This page measures one candle you type in. It does not scan charts. If you want patterns marked for you, charting platforms such as TradingView list candlestick-pattern indicators, both built in and community-made. To try one, open a chart, choose Indicators, search for candlestick and read the settings and description before adding it. Different scripts use different thresholds, so treat the marks as prompts to look, then check the candles yourself with the steps above. OneTradeJournal does not provide a pattern scanner or market data.

Looking for a candlestick pattern quiz?

For practice questions, visit the separate candlestick pattern quiz. This identifier accepts prices and returns measurements; it does not ask a sequence of questions or award a learning score. Knowing a pattern name and measuring its shape are related skills, but neither establishes a trading edge.

A useful exercise is to describe a completed candle in plain words before looking at its label. Record whether the close was above or below the open, which shadow was longer, and how large the body was relative to the range. Compare your description with the calculator without assuming that its name settles every interpretation.

Are candlestick patterns reliable?

Reliability is a claim that needs evidence, and a label is not evidence. Fidelity's educational material, already cited here, warns about seeing patterns that are not there. Measured results depend on the market, the timeframe, the definition and what you do after the signal, including costs. This form's Reliability word is a fixed label from the same tests that name the candle.

A better question is whether a pattern helps your own process. Mark each pattern you act on in your journal, record the outcome and review the results after enough trades. The candlestick charts guide and the candlestick pattern quiz help you practise recognising shapes before you rely on them.

Questions about identifying candle patterns

Sources

• CME Group: candlestick, line and bar charts, checked 15 Oct 2026.
• Fidelity: identifying chart patterns and their limits, checked 15 Oct 2026.