How to Read an Inverted Hammer
A small body near the bottom of the range with a long upper wick -- a tentative bullish signal that usually needs confirmation.
CANDLESTICK PATTERNS
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1-candle pattern · Bullish reversal
An inverted hammer has a small body near the bottom of the range, a long upper wick, and little or no lower wick, appearing after a downtrend. It shows buyers tested meaningfully higher prices during the period, even though the close ended up back near the open rather than holding those gains.
Because the close doesn’t confirm the buying pressure the way a standard hammer’s close does, an inverted hammer is generally treated as a weaker, more tentative version of a bullish reversal signal. Most traders wait for the following candle to close above the inverted hammer’s body before treating the reversal as real, rather than acting on the inverted hammer alone.
Related patterns
- How to Read a Hammer Candlestick
- How to Read a Shooting Star Candlestick
- How to Read a Morning Star Pattern
This article is educational only and isn’t a recommendation to trade any particular instrument or pattern — no candlestick pattern works in isolation. See the full candlestick guide for how patterns like this one fit into a broader approach.