As of 10/03/2024   Indus: 42,012 -184.93 -0.4%     Trans: 15,745 -226.81 -1.4%     Utils: 1,058 -6.74 -0.6%     Nasdaq: 17,918 -6.64 0.0%     S&P 500: 5,700 -9.60 -0.2%	YTD  +11.5%   -1.0%    +20.0%    +19.4%    +19.5%	Targets    Overview: 09/30/2024     43,500 or 41,600 by 10/15/2024   16,800 or 15,700 by 10/15/2024   1,125 or 1,025 by 10/15/2024   19,000 or 17,600 by 10/15/2024   5,900 or 5,600 by 10/15/2024
Chart Pattern Indicator: on 10/2/24

As of 10/03/2024   Indus: 42,012 -184.93 -0.4%     Trans: 15,745 -226.81 -1.4%     Utils: 1,058 -6.74 -0.6%     Nasdaq: 17,918 -6.64 0.0%     S&P 500: 5,700 -9.60 -0.2%	YTD  +11.5%   -1.0%    +20.0%    +19.4%    +19.5%
Targets    Overview: 09/30/2024     43,500 or 41,600 by 10/15/2024   16,800 or 15,700 by 10/15/2024   1,125 or 1,025 by 10/15/2024   19,000 or 17,600 by 10/15/2024   5,900 or 5,600 by 10/15/2024
Chart Pattern Indicator: on 10/2/24

Bulkowski on the Evening Star Candle Pattern

In my book, Encyclopedia of Candlestick Charts, pictured on the right, I explore the entire range of candlestick patterns from abandoned babies to windows (not exactly A to Z, but you get the idea), in both bull and bear markets, using almost 5 million candle lines in the tests.

If you click on the above link and then buy the book (or anything) while at Amazon.com, the referral will help support this site. Thanks.

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The evening star is cousin to the evening doji star, but I'll guess you already knew that. The difference is in the star, which is the middle candle of the three candle pattern. The evening star sounds like the name of a newspaper, doesn't it?

The evening star acts as a bearish reversal of the upward price trend, and when the breakout occurs, hold on for dear life. The overall performance rank is very high, but most of the performance is due to upward breakouts, not downward ones. In fact, you will want to avoid trading the evening star after a downward breakout in a bull market

Evening Star: Important Results

Theoretical performance: Bearish reversal Tested performance: Bearish reversal 72% of the time Frequency rank: 71 Overall performance rank: 4 Best percentage meeting price target: 50% (bull market, up breakout) Best average move in 10 days: 8.77% (bear market, up breakout) Best 10-day performance rank: 4 (bear market, up breakout) All ranks are out of 103 candlestick patterns with the top performer ranking 1. "Best" means the highest rated of the four combinations of bull/bear market, up/down breakouts. The above numbers are based on hundreds of perfect trades. See the glossary for definitions.

Evening Star

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Evening Star: Discussion

The evening star candlestick acts in theory as it does in reality, as a bearish reversal of the upward price trend 72% of the time. That gives it a rank of 10th, which is high. However, with a 71 frequency rank, it may be a long time before you see one in the bush. The overall performance rank is 4th, and that is top notch. Once the trend begins, it tends to remain trending.

The best average move is a rise of 8.77% in a bear market, ranking 4th. My guess is that the 63 samples composing the rise is too few to justify having faith in it. Look for the number to drop as more samples become available.

Evening Star: Identification Guidelines

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Evening Star: Three Trading Tidbits

If you want a few bones from my Encyclopedia of candlestick charts book, here are three to chew on. The pages refer to the book where the tips appear.

1. Evening star candles that appear within a third of the yearly low in a bull market perform best -- page 338.
2. Trade the evening star candlestick when it appears in an upward retracement of the primary downtrend -- page 340.
3. The evening star candlestick breaks out downward most often -- page 341.

Evening Star: Example

This evening star candlestick appears in an upward price trend. It sports a tall white candle on the first day followed by a smaller candle that is black but can be white, red or any color of your choice, just as long as the body remains above the surrounding two candles. On the last day a tall black candle appears that gaps below the middle candle and closes at least midway down the first candle (the tall white one).

This evening star candlestick acts as a bearish reversal of the up trend since the breakout is downward. A downward breakout occurs when price closes below the bottom of the candlestick pattern. In this example, the new downtrend is a lasting one, but it takes its time trending lower.

It is difficult to say from the chart, but this could be an example of the evening star appearing as part of an upward retracement of the primary downward price trend. That means price is moving lower over the longer term then price retraces -- moves up -- before the evening star appears and sends price tumbling again, to rejoin the original downward move. Finding those situations represents a delicious trading setup.

-- Thomas Bulkowski

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See Also

• The evening doji star is an exciting variation.
• Your candle could be an upside gap three methods.
• A Tasuki gap also fits the bill. Find out why.
• Tall candles show support and resistance.
• Two candlestick tips could improve profitability.
• Candles near the yearly low perform best.
• Chart pattern breakouts: Which candlesticks appear most often the day before breakouts?
• Shadows. Do tall candle shadows predict price turns? Yes and no.
• Tall candles at peaks and valleys. Tall candles appear at turning points.

What has four legs and an arm? A happy pit bull.