Hammer

Hammer

On a Japanese Candlestick chart, the hammer is known as a reversal candlestick. Hammer candlesticks occur when a security moves significantly lower after the open, but rebounds to close well above the intraday low. In a perfect hammer, this tail is twice the length of the body and the candlestick will have no upper shadow or wick. The smaller the body and the longer the tail, the more significant the hammer is as a bullish indicator. Hammers form at trend bottoms. If this candlestick forms during an advance, it is called a Hanging Man.


After a bearish sell-off a significant rally brings price back up creating a long bottom wick. By day end buyers are able to push prices back to the upper range creating a short body.

The Hammer pattern signifies a weakening in bearish sentiment. The long lower wick signifies an initial continuation of the downtrend. However, renewed buying sentiment acts as support and drives the price higher to close near its opening price.

• Strength and Confirmation
The strength of a Hammer formation depends on where it appears. If a hammer forms near support levels, then the likelihood of a strong bullish reversal is high. However, if the hammer forms in the middle of a trading range it tends to have little significance. In ideal conditions traders want the wick length to be several times longer than the body of the candle. The longer the candle, the more buyers were able to drive price back up and the stronger the bullish signal this candle provides.

Although above we state that most analysts do not care if the small candle is red or blue, traders will actually take a blue candle to suggest a stronger bullish signal. Buyers being unable to bring the close price above the open price suggest additional bullish strength. Generally the difference between blue and red candles is minimal.

The bullish Dragonfly Doji serves as a stronger buy signal than the Hanging Man pattern. Since a Dragonfly candle (where open and close are identical, but we see a low similar in length to the Hanging Man) reflects more uncertainly and lack of direction, candlestick analysts will usually take it as a stronger buy signal.

• Hammer vs Hanging Man.
Alone, Hammer and Hanging Man candles look identical. Their difference lies in what type of trend the candle follows. If the market had been trending up for a while the formation is a Hanging Man. In fact the name, Hanging Man, suggest price is hanging over a precipice, ready for a fall. Hammers follow a bearish trending market and its name suggest price has already been weighted down.