05/10/2021
The Morning Star Candlestick Pattern
No. of Candlesticks in play- 3 (1st candlestick is a bearish, 2nd a Doji & 3rd Bullish candle, explained later in the article)
Occurrence- Common pattern that has applicability in all timeframes
Signal Strength- This is a fairly strong bullish reversal signal. The Doji (the middle candle in this formation) is classed as an indecisive candlestick and is viewed as a tug of war where neither buyers or sellers have gained momentum during the trading session. A better version of the Morning Star Candlestick formation is dependent on the type of Doji candle seen and the length of the Bullish candle that succeeds the Doji. A Morningstar pattern that consists of an abandoned Baby Gapped Doji or a Dragon Fly Doji (mentioned later) is the strongest affirmation for a potential reversal. The illustration in the above EURUSD chart shows the pattern with a dragonfly Doji proceeded by a Long Bullish candle that Engulfs the initial 1st Bearish candlestick in the pattern.
How to identify? – This is a three candlestick pattern. All criteria and conditions have to be met for its validity. As it’s a Bullish Reversal pattern the first candlestick would be a bearish candle of any size. The second is integral, which is a Doji candle. This indicates that the downward selling pressure has come to halt and the number of buyers and sellers are equally numbered in the market. The main body of a Doji is very small and thin. Sometimes you may see a Doji candlestick like the ones below which have a much longer wick/shadow (i.e. Long-legged Doji); this would still make pattern credible.
Useful Timeframes for different types of traders-
Intraday or Day Trading- 30 minute or Hourly Timeframe
Swing Trader- 4 hourly or Daily Timeframe
Long-term – Weekly or Monthly Time Frame (A Morning Star seen at major support level or 61.8% of a Fibonacci Retracement level are very strong signs for reversal and potential entry of Long/buy trade)