# Evening Star Also known as: evening doji star. A Chart & Candlestick Patterns concept (Candlestick catalog) in the LuxAlgo Library, with 1 indicator implementation. ## What is an Evening Star? An evening star is a three-candle bearish reversal pattern from Japanese candlestick analysis. It forms at the top of an advance: a strong bullish candle, then a small-bodied candle (the star) whose body sits above the first, ideally gapping away, then a bearish candle that closes deep into the first candle's body. The sequence reads as momentum, hesitation, rejection. When the middle candle is a [doji](https://www.luxalgo.com/library/concept/doji/), the pattern is an evening doji star, conventionally treated as the stronger warning. The pattern comes from the Japanese rice-trading tradition and reached Western readers largely through Steve Nison, whose 1991 book Japanese Candlestick Charting Techniques catalogued it among the classic [candlestick patterns](https://www.luxalgo.com/library/concept/candlestick-patterns/). The name refers to the evening star, Venus shining just before nightfall: the star candle is the last light of the uptrend before dark. Its bullish mirror at lows is the [morning star](https://www.luxalgo.com/library/concept/morning-star/), named for the planet that appears just before sunrise. Each candle marks a stage in the handover of control. The first is one-sided buying, often a [wide-range bar](https://www.luxalgo.com/library/concept/wide-range-bar/) extending the trend. The second shows initiative stalling: price holds high but the body shrinks to a spinning top or doji. The third is the verdict, sellers driving price back through territory buyers had just paid for. Classical descriptions ask it to close well into the first candle's body, often below its midpoint, and a very large third candle can simultaneously qualify as a [bearish engulfing](https://www.luxalgo.com/library/concept/bullish-bearish-engulfing/) of the star. Like most candlestick reversals, the evening star carries more weight in context: after an extended run, at a resistance level or prior swing high, or with the third candle closing on expanding volume. On 24-hour markets the middle candle rarely gaps, so most traders accept a small body that merely holds above the first candle's close. A textbook example is still a statement about one swing, not a full trend forecast, so location and confirmation do most of the heavy lifting. ## How to Identify an Evening Star on a Chart The pattern only means something after a rise: confirm there is a trend to reverse, then grade the three candles in order. 1. Confirm the setting: a clear advance, ideally several consecutive up closes or a push into prior highs where a [double top](https://www.luxalgo.com/library/concept/double-top-bottom/) could be forming. 2. Grade candle one: a strong bullish candle with a full body, the uptrend still in force. 3. Grade candle two: a small body of either color holding above candle one's body, gapping higher where markets gap; a doji makes it an evening doji star. 4. Grade candle three: a bearish candle closing well into candle one's body, ideally below its midpoint, on steady or expanding volume. 5. Set the invalidation: a close back above the star's high cancels the bearish reading, so mark that level before acting. ## How traders use it - As a reversal trigger: aggressive entries sell the third candle's close, conservative ones wait for a break of the pattern's low, with the stop above the star's high. - As a location tool: the pattern is usually filtered by where it appears (at resistance, at prior highs, or after a stretch of consecutive up closes) rather than traded everywhere it prints. - As confirmation alongside other evidence, such as bearish momentum divergence or overbought oscillator readings, rather than as a standalone signal. - As an exit prompt: swing traders holding longs treat an evening star at a target zone as reason to take profit or tighten stops, even with no interest in shorting. - As a target framework: common objectives are the origin of the advance, the nearest support shelf, or an open gap below, letting the follow-through double as a [gap fill](https://www.luxalgo.com/library/concept/gap-fill/) trade. ## Evening Star vs Similar Reversal Patterns - **Morning Star** (https://www.luxalgo.com/library/concept/morning-star/): The exact mirror image: a downtrend, a star below the first candle's body, then a bullish close deep into it. Same three-stage psychology, opposite direction. - **Bullish/bearish Engulfing** (https://www.luxalgo.com/library/concept/bullish-bearish-engulfing/): The engulfing pattern compresses the reversal into two candles, skipping the hesitation stage. An oversized third candle can satisfy both definitions at once. - **Two-bar Reversal** (https://www.luxalgo.com/library/concept/two-bar-reversal/): A two-bar reversal pairs a strong directional bar with an immediate strong bar the other way; the evening star inserts a pause between them, read by many as a more complete shift. ## FAQ ### What is the difference between an evening star and an evening doji star? The middle candle. In a standard evening star the second candle has a small real body of either color; in an evening doji star it is a doji, opening and closing at nearly the same price. Because a doji shows complete stalemate right after a strong advance, the doji variant is conventionally read as the more emphatic warning. Both still need the third bearish candle to complete. ### How reliable is the evening star pattern? No candlestick pattern is reliable in isolation, and published hit rates vary with the market, the timeframe, and how strictly the pattern is defined. The evening star tends to be taken more seriously when it forms after an extended advance, at a meaningful level, and with a third candle that closes well into the first candle's body. Most traders demand follow-through before treating the reversal as confirmed. ### Does the middle candle of an evening star need to gap? In the classical Japanese definition, yes: the star's body gaps above the first body, and the third ideally gaps down. On 24-hour markets gaps are rare, so modern usage only requires the star's body to hold above the first candle's close; it may print as an [inside bar](https://www.luxalgo.com/library/concept/inside-bar/) within the first candle's range. The gap adds emphasis; the three-stage structure matters more. ### Is a shooting star the same as an evening star? No. A shooting star is a single candle with a long upper wick and a small body near its low, a one-bar rejection closely related to the bearish [pin bar](https://www.luxalgo.com/library/concept/pin-bar/). The evening star is a three-candle sequence expressing similar psychology; a shooting star can serve as its middle candle. ### Where do you place a stop loss when trading an evening star? Just above the pattern's high, usually the star's high, because a move back above it means the rejection failed. Some traders use the third candle's high for a tighter stop, accepting more shakeouts for better reward-to-risk. Either way the pattern supplies a defined invalidation point, which is much of its practical appeal. ### What timeframe does the evening star work best on? It is defined on any timeframe, and scanners find it everywhere. Convention gives it more weight on daily and weekly charts, where each candle summarizes at least a full session and noise is less likely to produce the sequence. On low timeframes it prints far more often and needs stricter filters like session extremes or higher-timeframe resistance. ## Implementations in the Library - Evening Star (LuxAlgo): https://www.luxalgo.com/library/indicator/evening-star/ ## Related concepts - Hammer: https://www.luxalgo.com/library/concept/hammer/ - Bullish/bearish Engulfing: https://www.luxalgo.com/library/concept/bullish-bearish-engulfing/ - Shooting Star: https://www.luxalgo.com/library/concept/shooting-star/ - Doji: https://www.luxalgo.com/library/concept/doji/ - Gravestone Doji: https://www.luxalgo.com/library/concept/gravestone-doji/ - Dragonfly Doji: https://www.luxalgo.com/library/concept/dragonfly-doji/ - Spinning Top: https://www.luxalgo.com/library/concept/spinning-top/ - Marubozu: https://www.luxalgo.com/library/concept/marubozu/ - Hanging Man: https://www.luxalgo.com/library/concept/hanging-man/ - Inverted Hammer: https://www.luxalgo.com/library/concept/inverted-hammer/ --- Source: https://www.luxalgo.com/library/concept/evening-star/ (LuxAlgo Library, the encyclopedia of trading & technical analysis). Free to use with attribution: https://www.luxalgo.com/library/license/