Hanging Man candlestick pattern
Shaped exactly like a hammer, but it appears after a rally. The long lower wick shows sellers were able to drive price sharply lower during an uptrend, an early crack in buyers' control.
Illustrative shape. Real patterns vary in proportion.
How to identify a Hanging Man
- Appears after an uptrend
- Small body at the top of the range
- Lower wick at least twice the body's length
- Little or no upper wick
What the Hanging Man tells you
Buyers recovered by the close, but the session revealed that a large wave of selling is lurking under the market. In a mature uptrend, that's a sign the crowd of buyers may be thinning.
How traders use it
Confirmation is a lower close on the next candle, ideally below the hanging man's body. Traders who act on it often place stops above its high. Without confirmation, a hanging man frequently just turns into another bullish day.
Before taking any pattern-based trade, decide your stop first and size the position from it with the position size calculator.
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Frequently asked questions
Is the Hanging Man bullish or bearish? +
The Hanging Man is a bearish reversal pattern. Shaped exactly like a hammer, but it appears after a rally. The long lower wick shows sellers were able to drive price sharply lower during an uptrend, an early crack in buyers' control.
How reliable is the Hanging Man? +
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 Hanging Man? +
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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