What is a Evening Star Pattern?

Traders often look for strong patterns to get early entries. The Evening Star is one such pattern that can offer a strong and early bearish entry. It is considered one of the most reliable indicators of a potential trend reversal. The pattern usually forms at the top of an uptrend.

An Evening Star pattern is a triple candlestick pattern that can help traders predict a good entry point for bearish trades. Hence, it is a bearish reversal candlestick pattern.

Candlestick Structure and Features

Here is how the Evening Star pattern looks:

• First candle: This is a strong bullish (long green) candle, indicating the continuation of the uptrend.
• Second candle: Then, a gap up takes place the next day, and a small-bodied candle is formed. This second candle can be either bullish, bearish, or a doji, and it usually indicates indecision.
• Third candle: On the third day, there is an unexpected gap down and a strong bearish candle closing well into the body of the first candle. The pattern is now complete, and traders can go for a bearish reversal trade.

Apart from the usual evening star pattern, there are some modifications as well:

Here are the differences between them:

Pattern	Middle Candle	Gap Needed?	Strength	Easy Explanation
Evening Star	Small candle (bullish/bearish)	Gap not required (but helps)	Strong	Normal 3-candle bearish reversal
Evening Doji Star	Doji (open = close)	Small gap above 1st candle (better)	Stronger	Doji shows clear indecision before reversal
Abandoned Baby	Doji or tiny candle	Must gap up after 1st & down before 3rd	Very Strong & Rare	Middle candle “stands alone” → powerful reversal

Meaning and Significance in Downtrends

This is a bearish reversal pattern. The pattern works best when it is formed in an uptrend. If you find an Evening Star during a downtrend, it can be safely ignored. It is, in fact, essential to understand that for trading any pattern, the prior trend must be analysed carefully. 

Setup Confirmation and Indicators

The Evening Pattern is most effective following a prolonged uptrend. The reliability increases further if volume rises on the bearish candle. Additionally, if we can identify strong resistance at the high of the second candle, this provides even more confidence in the setup. Some ways of confirmation are using the following indicators:

• RSI: If the RSI is in the overbought zone, then the pattern becomes stronger
• MACD: We may look for a bearish crossover to ensure that the pattern is working best.
• Supertrend: We can use the supertrend as a confirmation signal to take the short entry. So, if the supertrend changes colour from green to red, it provides a double confirmation that a downward trend has started.

Trading Strategy for the Evening Star

To trade the evening star, once it has formed after a significant uptrend, we can go for short trades. The entry can be done in 2 ways: either the trade can be taken at the break of the low of the third candle. Or, conservative traders can wait for the candle to close below the third candle low to take the entry.

Once the entry is made, the stop-loss is usually set at the high of the second/third candle. Since the trades are being done at a good resistance level, the targets can be either the next support zone or use a risk-reward ratio (1:2 or 1:3).

If you want to increase the accuracy, you may like to wait for extra indicator confirmation.

Real-World Market Examples

Let's take an example of ICICI Bank on a daily timeframe.

The market was in a clear uptrend. Then there was a large green candle, followed by a doji candle (accompanied by a gap up). The next candle was a gap-down red candle. The short entry can be taken the next day at the low of the third candle, with the stoploss at the high of the third candle. The target can be put at a risk-to-reward ratio of 1:2 or 1:3, which was achieved around 5 Apr 2025.

Strengths and Drawbacks

The Evening Star pattern has both strengths and weaknesses. It works well during trending markets and can give a clear bearish reversal signal. It is strongly reliable with confirmation. However, it can fail in sideways markets and needs volume/indicator support.

Difference from Morning Star Pattern

The Morning Star is a bullish reversal pattern, the opposite of the Evening Star. Here are the differences between Evening and Morning Star:

Aspect	Morning Star	Evening Star
Trend Context	Appears after a downtrend	Appears after an uptrend
Signal Type	Bullish reversal	Bearish reversal
First Candle	Long bearish candle	Long bullish candle
Second Candle	Small body / Doji (indecision)	Small body / Doji (indecision)
Third Candle	Strong bullish candle closing into the 1st	Strong bearish candle closing into the 1st
Market Psychology	Sellers lose control, buyers take over	Buyers lose control, sellers take over

Conclusion

The Evening Star is a very popular bearish reversal pattern that works very well if the reversal occurs after a strong uptrend. The pattern becomes even stronger when the reversal occurs at a strong resistance level, which can provide further confidence to the trader to take the short entry.

It can also be combined with other tools, such as RSI, MACD, or Supertrend, which helps increase the accuracy of the pattern. If the pattern is used wisely, the Evening Star can help traders anticipate potential downturns and manage risk more effectively.