Hammer and shooting star: what they are, and how to test them
A hammer is a candle with a long lower wick and a small body near its high: price was pushed down, then came most of the way back. A shooting star is the mirror image, with the long wick on top. Here is the exact rule QuantLogic uses, and how to test both.
What it is
The body is the distance between open and close; the wicks are what sticks out above and below it. A hammer's lower wick is long compared with its body, and its upper wick is short.
A shooting star turns that upside down: a long upper wick, a short lower one, the body near the low.
The exact rule QuantLogic uses
Hammer, on one-minute bars. The shooting star is the mirror image.
- The bar has a range: its high is above its low.
- Its lower wick is at least twice its body, and longer than zero.
- Its upper wick is no bigger than its body.
When is it known? Known when the bar closes. Green or red does not matter.
Versions you can build
- Hammer. Long lower wick, small body near the high.
- Shooting star. Long upper wick, small body near the low.
What to look at around it
In QuantLogic, every time the idea happened is laid out with the data points around it, so you can see where it held and where it didn't:
Traps when you test it
- Expecting the textbook fall before it. The app counts every hammer wherever it prints; a falling market before it is a filter you can add.
- Reading the colour. A red hammer and a green hammer count the same here.
- Looking at hammers only. Test the shooting stars as well and see whether they behave alike.
Build it and test it yourself
Open Hammer in Build with QuantLogic. See every time it happened on NQ, ES, Gold or Crude since September 2025, check the long and the short side, add your own filters and run the luck test.
Nothing is proven until it holds live. We give no trading signals and no advice, we never hold your money or your accounts, and we never trade for you.
Questions
- What is the difference between a hammer and a hanging man?
- The shape is the same; the name changes with where it prints. QuantLogic counts the shape and lets you add the context, so both are in the hammer count.
- Is an inverted hammer the same as a shooting star?
- It has the same shape. Here both are found by the shooting star rule.
- Does a hammer mean price will turn up?
- No. Sometimes price keeps falling. That is what you test, and keep watching once it is live.
Related setups
Setup library
Liquidity sweeps, break of structure, VWAP, the opening range and more, drawn and explained with the exact rule.
Engulfing
A candle whose body swallows the body of the candle before it, in the other colour.
Doji
A candle that closes almost where it opened: a tiny body inside a full range.
Morning and evening star
A big candle, a small pause, then a candle back past the middle of the first.
Liquidity sweep
Price runs through equal lows or highs, or yesterday's level, then closes back.
Educational content, not investment advice. Futures trading involves substantial risk of loss. See the risk disclosure.