Pin Bar
A single-candle reversal pattern made of one long wick and a small body. The long wick points to the side where price was tried and pushed back. A pin bar with a long lower wick is called bullish, one with a long upper wick bearish. It can signal that the market has refused a price level.
How it forms
- It follows a move. A bullish pin bar usually matters after a decline, a bearish one after a rise.
- The long wick is at least two-thirds of the candle's full range (from high to low).
- The body sits in the opposite third of the range. Both the open and the close are inside that third.
- Bullish pin bar: the long wick points down and the body is at the top of the candle. A green body is considered stronger.
- Bearish pin bar: the long wick points up and the body is at the bottom of the candle. A red body is considered stronger.
Pin bar is a general shape name from the price action approach. A bullish pin bar after a decline is often the same candle as a hammer, and a bearish pin bar after a rise the same as a shooting star. The name pin bar describes the shape regardless of trend context.
What it suggests
The long wick shows that price moved clearly in one direction during the candle, but most of that move was taken back by the close. In a bullish pin bar, sellers pushed price down and buyers reclaimed it before the close. In a bearish pin bar, the reverse happened.
This can suggest that the prices the wick reached were rejected by the market. Still, a single candle does not prove a change of direction. Whether the next candles retest the wick's tip shows whether the read still holds.
When it strengthens, when it weakens
Strengthens
- The wick reaching into a support or resistance zone while the body closes outside it
- The wick sticking out clearly beyond the range of the previous few candles
- A clear move before the pattern
- A body colour that matches the pin bar's direction
- Forming on a higher timeframe (4H, 1D)
Weakens
- Forming in the middle of a flat, directionless market
- The wick not reaching any zone
- The short wick also being long (the shape moves towards a doji)
- The candle staying inside the previous candles' range
- Forming on very low timeframes (1m, 5m)
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How it relates to zones
The pin bar is one of the candles best suited to reading with zones, because the long wick shows exactly how far price went before turning back:
- If the wick reaches into the zone and the body closes outside it, price can be said to have reached the zone but not been accepted there. This is the most meaningful case.
- If the wick pierces right through the zone and the body still comes back, the zone was briefly breached but held on the close. These false breaks are common.
- If the body closes on the far side of the zone, the zone has been lost on the close, even if the candle has a pin bar shape. The rejection read is then weaker.
A pin bar that forms away from any zone, where price has not reacted before, is often just random noise. The relationship between the wick's tip and the zone's edge says more than the candle's shape.
When it is invalidated
For a bullish pin bar, if price closes below the pin bar's lowest point (the wick's tip), the rejection read is considered invalid.
For a bearish pin bar, the same applies to a close above the pin bar's highest point. The prices the wick rejected have now been accepted.
Often confused with
For general information only. Not investment advice.Last updated: