Candlestick Patterns Cheat Sheet: The Key Patterns

A candlestick patterns cheat sheet is a quick reference to the most common one- to three-candle formations and what each suggests. Patterns fall into two jobs (reversal or continuation) and two directions (bullish or bearish). This guide gives a scannable table plus how to read each pattern and the context that makes it meaningful.

The candlestick patterns cheat sheet table

This table groups the most widely used candlestick patterns by direction and type. Use it as a quick lookup, then read the sections below for how to interpret each group. All patterns are read in the context of the prior trend, since the same shape changes meaning depending on where it appears.

How do you read this cheat sheet?

Read the cheat sheet by first locating the prevailing trend, then matching the candle shape to a row, then checking the "type" column to see whether it implies a reversal or a continuation. A pattern's meaning depends entirely on where it sits: a hammer is a potential bottoming signal only after a decline, not in the middle of a range.

This is why understanding the basics first matters. If you are new to candles, start with how to read candlestick charts, because every pattern in the table is just a named combination of body size and wick location. The table is shorthand, not a rulebook. Each row describes a potential shift in the balance between buyers and sellers, which still needs confirmation before it means anything actionable.

What are the key bullish reversal patterns?

Bullish reversal patterns appear after a decline and suggest selling pressure may be giving way to buying. The single-candle version is the hammer: a small body with a long lower wick, showing that sellers pushed price down but buyers rejected the lows and closed near the top. Per Bulkowski's testing, the hammer acts as a bullish reversal about 60% of the time, which is only modest.

The two-candle bullish engulfing is stronger and more visual: a small down candle followed by a larger up candle whose body completely engulfs it, signalling a decisive shift to buyers. Bulkowski's data puts its reversal rate at about 63%. The three-candle morning star adds a pause in between: a down candle, a small indecisive candle, then a strong up candle confirming the turn. All three say the same thing in different resolutions, namely that sellers lost control near a low.

What are the key bearish reversal patterns?

Bearish reversal patterns appear after a rise and suggest buying pressure may be giving way to selling. They mirror the bullish ones. The shooting star is a single candle with a small body and a long upper wick after an advance: buyers pushed price up but were rejected back down before the close.

The bearish engulfing is the two-candle mirror of its bullish counterpart: a small up candle followed by a larger down candle whose body engulfs it, signalling sellers have taken control. The three-candle evening star is the bearish twin of the morning star: an up candle, a small-bodied pause, then a strong down candle. Three black crows, three strong consecutive down candles after a rise, is a more drawn-out version of the same message. Each marks a point where buyers ran out of conviction near a high.

What does a doji mean?

A doji is a single candle where the open and close are virtually equal, producing a cross or plus shape with little or no body. Per StockCharts ChartSchool, a doji represents indecision: buyers and sellers fought to a near standstill over the period. By itself it is neutral, not directional.

A doji's significance comes from where it appears. After a long advance or decline, a doji can warn that the trend's momentum is stalling, which is why it often forms part of larger patterns like the morning and evening stars. Variants add nuance: a "dragonfly" doji has a long lower wick (rejection of lows), and a "gravestone" doji has a long upper wick (rejection of highs). On its own, though, a doji is a question, not an answer; it tells you conviction has vanished, not which side will win next.

What are continuation patterns?

Continuation patterns suggest a trend is pausing rather than reversing, and may resume in the same direction. The classic examples are the rising and falling three methods. In the bullish rising three methods, a strong up candle is followed by a few small candles drifting against the trend, then another strong up candle that resumes the advance.

The falling three methods is the bearish mirror inside a downtrend. The logic is that a brief, low-energy pullback that fails to reverse the trend often gives way to a continuation. These patterns matter because not every cluster of small candles is a reversal; many are just the market catching its breath. Distinguishing a continuation from a reversal usually comes down to context, especially whether price is holding above support and resistance that defines the trend.

Candlestick patterns also nest inside larger chart formations. A bearish engulfing or evening star forming at the right shoulder of a head and shoulders pattern, for example, can add a candle-level read to a structural one. The cheat sheet handles the one- to three-candle signals; broader multi-week formations are a separate layer that the candle patterns can confirm or contradict.

How reliable are candlestick patterns?

Candlestick patterns are only modestly reliable in isolation, and any single pattern is closer to a coin flip than a sure thing. Thomas Bulkowski's large-sample research, which ranks over a hundred candlestick patterns, found that even well-known patterns like the bullish engulfing and hammer act as reversals only around 60-63% of the time, and that price often does not travel far afterward.

This is the single most important caveat on any cheat sheet. The patterns describe a potential shift in pressure, but they need confirmation to become useful: a follow-through candle in the expected direction, higher-than-average volume, and crucially the pattern forming at an established level rather than mid-range. A bullish engulfing at a tested support zone on strong volume is a meaningful read; the same pattern floating in the middle of a chart is mostly noise.

Putting the cheat sheet in context

A candlestick cheat sheet is a vocabulary, not a strategy. The table groups recurring combinations of body and wick into named signals, but the edge was never in the names; it is in reading the underlying balance of buyers and sellers and demanding context before acting. The strongest patterns are the ones that confirm what the trend, the key levels, and the volume are already saying. That layered read, pattern plus structure plus confirmation, is exactly how Lynx AI works through a chart screenshot, naming what it sees and then weighing it against the surrounding context rather than reacting to a shape alone.