Hammer candlestick pattern
A single candle with a small body near the top and a long lower wick, appearing after a decline. It shows sellers pushed price down hard but buyers drove it back up before the close.
Illustrative shape. Real patterns vary in proportion.
How to identify a Hammer
- Appears after a downtrend or pullback
- Small real body at the upper end of the range (color matters less than position)
- Lower wick at least twice the length of the body
- Little or no upper wick
What the Hammer tells you
During the session sellers were firmly in control and pushed price to a new low, but they couldn't hold it. Buyers absorbed the selling and pushed price back near the open. That failed push lower is the first sign that selling pressure may be running out.
How traders use it
A hammer on its own is a warning, not a buy signal. Most traders wait for the next candle to close above the hammer's high as confirmation. A common stop sits just below the hammer's low, which makes risk easy to define: the distance from entry to that low.
Before taking any pattern-based trade, decide your stop first and size the position from it with the position size calculator.
Think you'd spot it on a chart?
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Frequently asked questions
Is the Hammer bullish or bearish? +
The Hammer is a bullish reversal pattern. A single candle with a small body near the top and a long lower wick, appearing after a decline. It shows sellers pushed price down hard but buyers drove it back up before the close.
How reliable is the Hammer? +
No candlestick pattern works every time. Patterns are more reliable when they form at a meaningful level (support, resistance, a moving average), after a clear trend, on higher volume, and when the next candle confirms them.
Do I need confirmation to trade the Hammer? +
Most traders want it. Waiting for the next candle to move in the expected direction filters out many false signals, at the cost of a slightly worse entry price.
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