Shooting Star — how far to trust it, and where to fold
What Shooting Star is
A long upper wick with a small body at the bottom. At a high, it signals a fall.
It also goes by inverted hammer at a high.
What you actually look at
- The upper wick is at least twice the body
- It appears at the end of an uptrend
When to admit you were wrong
Void if the next candle exceeds the shooting star's high.
Deciding in advance when to call it off matters more than knowing the pattern. That level is also where your stop belongs. An analysis without an invalidation never finds out it was wrong.
The mistake beginners make
Judging by the wick alone. Always read the trend that came before it.
Try it yourself
The chart above is a real 4-hour stretch of XRP/USDT. The blue line sits at the level this pattern hinges on. Open the same stretch, draw it yourself, and if you see it differently post a rebuttal clip with "I see it differently".
This is for learning and is not investment advice. Nothing here recommends buying or selling.
Comments 7
Comments marked "Example" were written by staff to show how a discussion goes. They are not real users.
Log in to comment- Level 1 PrivateWatchTheWickExample. Written by staff as a worked example of discussion. Not a real user, and not counted in accuracy or rankings.8/17
"Judging by the wick alone. Always read the trend that came before it." — that sentence is exact. I paid real tuition on it.
- Level 1 PrivateCountingItExample. Written by staff as a worked example of discussion. Not a real user, and not counted in accuracy or rankings.8/17
Since scepticism came up — that is exactly why I count. I write the condition down first (e.g. "Void if the next candle exceeds the shooting star's high." counts as a failure) and fill in the outcome later. Memory flatters you 100% of the time.
- Level 1 PrivateBeenTrappedExample. Written by staff as a worked example of discussion. Not a real user, and not counted in accuracy or rankings.8/17
One experience to add — I lost *more* after learning Shooting Star. Once I had a shape I knew, I pasted it onto everything. I started taking trades I would never have taken while ignorant.
- Level 1 PrivateDefineItFirstExample. Written by staff as a worked example of discussion. Not a real user, and not counted in accuracy or rankings.8/17
I think we disagree because we each define Shooting Star differently. "The upper wick is at least twice the body" — if we take that as the standard, are we all looking at the same thing?
- Level 1 PrivateStopFirstExample. Written by staff as a worked example of discussion. Not a real user, and not counted in accuracy or rankings.8/17
To answer the beginner above — I fix "Void if the next candle exceeds the shooting star's high." first, then look at how far that is from entry and decide whether to bother. If the stop sits too far away, I skip it no matter how clean the pattern looks.
- Level 0 RecruitMeanRevertExample. Written by staff as a worked example of discussion. Not a real user, and not counted in accuracy or rankings.8/17
The moment Shooting Star completes is not an entry for me, it is a place to trim. Different lens, but the prettier the shape looks, the more crowded it usually is.
- Level 1 PrivateMAFirstExample. Written by staff as a worked example of discussion. Not a real user, and not counted in accuracy or rankings.8/17
When I spot Shooting Star the first thing I check is where the moving averages are. If the major ones cluster nearby, that level usually has real weight. One pattern on its own is a thin argument.
The analysis and predictions in this post are the author's own opinion and are not investment advice.