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Bearish Pin Bar

A bearish pin bar is an upper rejection candle where price pushed higher but could not hold that higher area. The long upper wick shows the failed attempt. The small body near the lower part of the candle shows sellers took back control before the close.

Bearish pin bar candle with a small body near the low and a dominant upper wick.

At A Glance

  • Name: Bearish Pin Bar
  • Category: Bearish Candle Patterns
  • Type: Bearish Rejection
  • Number of candles: 1 candle
  • Typical context: At resistance, after a push higher, or after a failed breakout attempt.

How To Identify It

  • Body: Small body near the bottom of the candle range.
  • Wicks: Long upper wick that stands out as the main feature.
  • Relationship: The candle is usually compared with a nearby upper level or the prior candle range.

Look for one dominant upper wick and a small body near the lower part of the candle. The wick should be the main visual feature, showing a clear failed push higher.

Context

The pattern is most useful to study when the long upper wick rejects a visible higher area.

Bearish pin bars overlap with shooting stars and topping tails. The term is useful when traders want to talk about upper-wick rejection near resistance, a failed breakout area, or an extended move.

What It Shows

A bearish pin bar shows that buyers were able to push price higher, but they could not keep it there. Sellers took back control before the candle closed, leaving the upper wick behind.

What To Watch Next

Watch whether price stays below the wick high and starts accepting below the body. Stronger reactions usually keep the rejected area overhead.

The read weakens if price reclaims the wick high. That means the failed push higher is no longer being rejected.

Common Confusion

Bearish pin bar, shooting star, and topping tail often describe the same upper-rejection family.

Key Takeaway

A bearish pin bar is part of the upper-rejection family. The wick shows the failed push higher; the context tells whether that failure matters.

Related Lessons

Course Context

Chart Reading And Market Structure

Bearish Candle Patterns

Lesson 39

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Course Path

Move through the course in order, or jump to the lesson you need.

Lessons

Chart Reading Basics And Core Levels

Lesson 1Candlestick Basics: How Candles WorkLesson 2Support and Resistance: A Practical Trading GuideLesson 3How to Draw Support and Resistance Without Cluttering Your ChartLesson 4Support Levels: How Traders Read, Use, and Review SupportLesson 5Resistance Levels: How Traders Read, Use, and Review ResistanceLesson 6Key Levels Trading: How to Build a Practical Level Map

Swing Structure

Lesson 7Swing Highs and Swing Lows: How Traders Read Market StructureLesson 8Higher Highs and Higher Lows: How Traders Read Uptrend StructureLesson 9Lower Highs and Lower Lows: How Traders Read Downtrend Structure

Rejection, Breaks And Reclaims

Lesson 10Price Rejection: How Traders Review Failed Pushes at Key LevelsLesson 11Breakout Trading: How to Read Breakouts Without ChasingLesson 12Breakdown Trading: How Traders Review Support BreaksLesson 13Level Breakout: How to Review What Happens After Price Clears a Key LevelLesson 14Level Reclaim: How Traders Review Price Winning Back a Key AreaLesson 15Break of Structure: How Traders Review Market Structure Changes

Intraday Reference Levels

Lesson 16Pivot Levels: How Traders Review Chart Turning PointsLesson 17Previous Day High Low: How Traders Review PDH and PDLLesson 18Premarket High Low: How Traders Review PMH and PMLLesson 19High of Day: How Traders Review HOD LevelsLesson 20Low of Day: How Traders Review LOD LevelsLesson 21New High of Day: How Traders Review NHOD Alerts

Ranges, Compression And Pattern Basics

Lesson 22Compression Trading: How Traders Review Tightening Price ActionLesson 23Consolidation Trading: How Traders Review Sideways RangesLesson 24Chart Pattern BasicsLesson 25Chart Pattern Deep-Dive Lessons

Gaps

Lesson 26Gap Fill Trading: How Traders Review Gap Areas

Bullish Candle Patterns

Lesson 27HammerLesson 28Inverted HammerLesson 29Bottoming Tail CandleLesson 30Bullish Pin BarLesson 31Dragonfly DojiLesson 32Bullish EngulfingLesson 33Piercing LineLesson 34Morning StarLesson 35Three White Soldiers

Bearish Candle Patterns

Lesson 36Shooting StarLesson 37Hanging ManLesson 38Topping Tail CandleLesson 39Bearish Pin BarLesson 40Gravestone DojiLesson 41Bearish EngulfingLesson 42Dark Cloud CoverLesson 43Evening StarLesson 44Three Black Crows

Indecision And Neutral Candles

Lesson 45Standard DojiLesson 46Long-Legged DojiLesson 47Spinning TopLesson 48High-Wave CandleLesson 49Inside Bar

Momentum And Continuation Candles

Lesson 50Full Body CandleLesson 51MarubozuLesson 52Bullish MarubozuLesson 53Bearish MarubozuLesson 54Breakout CandleLesson 55Breakdown CandleLesson 56Rising Three MethodsLesson 57Falling Three MethodsLesson 58High-Volume Green CandleLesson 59High-Volume Red CandleLesson 60Outside Bar

Session And Gap Behavior

Lesson 61Gap UpLesson 62Gap DownLesson 63Gap And GoLesson 64Gap FillLesson 65Exhaustion GapLesson 66Red-To-Green MoveLesson 67Green-To-Red Move

Chart Patterns In Context

Lesson 68Bull Flag PatternLesson 69Bear Flag PatternLesson 70Bull PennantLesson 71Bear PennantLesson 72Cup and Handle PatternLesson 73Base BreakoutLesson 74Ascending Triangle PatternLesson 75Descending Triangle PatternLesson 76Symmetrical Triangle PatternLesson 77Wedge PatternLesson 78Rising WedgeLesson 79Falling WedgeLesson 80Rectangle PatternLesson 81Channel PatternLesson 82Double TopLesson 83Double BottomLesson 84Triple TopLesson 85Triple BottomLesson 86Head And Shoulders PatternLesson 87Inverse Head And ShouldersLesson 88Rounding Top PatternLesson 89Rounding Bottom PatternLesson 90Parabolic MoveLesson 91Failed Breakout PatternLesson 92Failed Breakdown PatternLesson 93VWAP Reclaim