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Candlestick patterns

The pin bar:a move that was pushed back.

A pin bar is a candle with a long wick on one side and a small body at the other end, showing that price moved sharply in one direction and was pushed back before the close. A bearish pin bar has a long upper wick; a bullish pin bar has a long lower wick. Location decides its meaning.

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The shape of a pin bar

The defining feature is the wick, or tail: typically at least two-thirds of the candle's full range, with the body in the remaining third at the opposite end. Traditional candlestick analysis has names for similar shapes - the hammer and the shooting star among them - and pin bar is the price-action traders' umbrella term.

Bullish and bearish pin bars
FormLong wickBodyUsual reading
Bearish pin barUpperNear the lowHigher prices were rejected
Bullish pin barLowerNear the highLower prices were rejected

Why location matters

A pin bar in the middle of a range is common and says little. At a well-watched support or resistance level, after a sharp move into it, the same candle is read as a sign the level held for that session. In SMC terms the long wick is often a liquidity sweep beyond the level that then reversed.

How pin bars are commonly traded

A common approach enters on a break of the pin bar's body end in the direction of the rejection, with a stop beyond the tip of the wick. Because the wick is long, that stop is often far from the entry - the size must come from that distance.

Step by step

How to identify it

Check the shape, then the place, then the timeframe.

  1. Measure the wick: it should be the clear majority of the candle's range.
  2. Check the body sits at the opposite end of the candle.
  3. Check the location: a level, the edge of a range, or the end of a sharp move.
  4. Use the same timeframe consistently; a pin bar on one timeframe may not be one on another.

Worked example

The concept,walked through

A bearish pin bar at resistance, described

An illustrative sequence in words, with round numbers standing in for price. It is not taken from any real instrument or date.

  1. 1. LevelPrice has turned down twice near 150 in the past month.
  2. 2. Pin barA session opens at 148.5, spikes to 151, and closes at 148.2 - a long upper wick above the level.
  3. 3. PlanA trader using the pattern would consider a short below 148, with a stop above 151.

The candle showed that one push above 150 failed. It did not show that the next push would; the stop above the wick is where the idea would be wrong.

Common mistakes

Where tradersgo wrong

Ignoring where it forms

Most pin bars are noise; the level gives the candle its meaning.

Placing the stop inside the wick

The wick tip is where the rejection happened. A tighter stop is inside the move the pattern describes.

Trading against a strong trend on one candle

A single rejection rarely stops a strong trend.

Limitations

What it cannottell you

No chart concept predicts price. These are the limits worth keeping in view.

  • Candle shapes depend on timeframe and session boundaries, so the same price action can look different on different charts.
  • There is no reliable evidence that pin bars predict direction on their own.

In an evaluation

Using it on asimulated account

On a $100,000 simulated account the daily loss limit is $3,000 on Instant or $5,000 on 1 Step and 2 Step. Pattern stops are often wide, so size from the stop distance first - risking something like $500 a trade - rather than from how clean the pattern looks.

Trading rule

What is the daily loss limit?

The ceiling on a day's losses - 3% on Instant and 5% on 1 Step and 2 Step.

Trading rule

Does slippage excuse a breach?

Wick-tip stops sit where price moves fast.

Trading rule

What is maximum drawdown?

The overall floor beneath the account.

Questions

Asked aboutthis concept

A candle with a long upper wick and a small body near its low, showing that price pushed higher and was rejected before the close. It matters most at resistance.

Closely related. A hammer is a bullish pin bar after a decline in traditional candlestick terms; pin bar is the broader price-action name for the shape.

Keep learning

Relatedlessons

Chart and candlestick patterns

Doji Candle: Meaning and Types

The candle with almost no body - what it shows about the session, the common types, and why a doji on its own says very little.

Price action and market structure

Support and Resistance, Explained

The levels where price has repeatedly stalled or turned - how to draw them as zones, why broken levels flip roles, and what they cannot tell you.

Smart money concepts (SMC and ICT)

Liquidity in Trading: Pools and Sweeps

Buy-side and sell-side liquidity, equal highs and lows, and what traders mean when they say price swept a level.

Chart and candlestick patterns

Inside Bar Candlestick Pattern

A candle that stays entirely within the previous candle's high and low - what the contraction shows, how breaks are traded, and why many fail.

Sources

What this pagerelied on

  1. Hammer (candlestick pattern) - Wikipedia. Retrieved 23 September 2026. The long-wick, small-body candle shape that pin bars describe, and its inverted forms.
  2. Candlestick pattern - Wikipedia. Retrieved 22 September 2026. Candlestick construction, the pattern names, and the Japanese origin of the charting method.

Educational content only, not investment advice or a recommendation to trade. Chart concepts describe what price has done; none of them predicts what it will do, and trading any strategy can lose money. Get Funded Now accounts are simulated and trade virtual funds. Last reviewed 22 September 2026.

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