A candle-pattern marker that puts a vertical line on a single candle in an uptrend with a long lower shadow and almost no upper shadow.
- Weapon tier
- Starter tier
- Slots used
- Candle markings 1/3
Concept
The shape is exactly the same as “Hammer” — a small body near the top with a long shadow hanging below. Only the place is different: when it appears on top of an uptrend, it is called a hanging man.
It is commonly read as a warning: "during the rise, the price was pushed far down at one point — sellers have started to appear". It recovered by the close, so on its own it is a weak signal.
- Hanging Man
Charts by TradingView Lightweight Charts™
80 candles with volume. The price rises to the top with a big up candle, and right after it, candle 60 (yellow vertical line) has a long lower shadow. The price then moves up and down while drifting lower. Keyboard: ←/→ to move, +/− to zoom, 0 to see the whole chart.
The candle with the yellow vertical line is the hanging man. This scene was picked because the price fell afterwards. It is just as common for the uptrend to carry on after one — it has the same shape as a hammer, so it also shows buyers stepping in. Drag the chart sideways with a finger or the mouse to move it, and pinch with two fingers to zoom in. With a keyboard, click the chart, then use ←/→ to move and +/− to zoom.
How it is calculated
The close must be above the average close of the last 10 candles — meaning "inside an uptrend". This is the only condition that differs from the hammer.
The lower shadow (bottom of the body − low) must be at least the body length × 2.
The upper shadow (high − top of the body) must be at most the full candle length (high − low) × 0.15. A candle that meets all of this gets the marker.
Parameters
| What it sets | Name in the game | Default | Range |
|---|---|---|---|
| Candles used for the trend (average) before it | trendPeriod | 10 | 3 – 60 |
| Lower shadow must be at least this many bodies long | shadowMultiple | 2 | 0.5 – 5 |
| Upper shadow must be at most this share of the full candle | upperShadowMax | 0.15 | 0.02 – 0.5 |
Trading ideas
Rather than selling on the hanging man alone, many traders wait to see whether the next candle closes below its body (a confirmation candle).
Check whether it came after a long, large rise. A hanging man early in a rise means little.
Common traps
- Going by shape alone, it is also a candle where buyers stepped in. In a strong rise the price simply keeps climbing after it.
- The "uptrend" check only asks whether the close is above the average, so the marker also appears on candles that pop above it briefly in a sideways stretch.
- The chart on this page was picked because the price fell afterwards. Rising on after the same shape is common too.
In the game
- “Hanging Man” is an “Starter tier” weapon and uses 1 “Candle markings” slot (limit 3).
- The game draws a faint grey vertical line in the price area on every candle where the event happens, and writes the weapon name only on the most recent line.
- The same shape in a downtrend is marked by “Hammer”. If you equip both, they are told apart by solid and dashed lines.
Related indicators and lessons
- Three White Soldiers — A candle-pattern marker that puts a vertical line on the third of three big up candles closing higher one after another.
- Three Black Crows — A candle-pattern marker that puts a vertical line on the third of three big down candles closing lower one after another.
- Morning Star — A candle-pattern marker for a three-candle bottom shape — big down candle, small-bodied candle, big up candle — with a vertical line on the third candle.
- Evening Star — A candle-pattern marker for a three-candle top shape — big up candle, small-bodied candle, big down candle — with a vertical line on the third candle.
- Hammer — A candle-pattern marker that puts a vertical line on a single candle in a downtrend with a long lower shadow and almost no upper shadow.
- Inverted Hammer — A candle-pattern marker that puts a vertical line on a single candle in a downtrend with a long upper shadow and almost no lower shadow.
- Shooting Star — A candle-pattern marker that puts a vertical line on a single candle in an uptrend with a long upper shadow and almost no lower shadow.
- Doji — A weapon that finds and marks candles whose open and close are almost the same, so the body is very thin. It is a candle where buyers and sellers ended up evenly matched.
- Bullish Marubozu — A weapon that finds and marks rising candles with almost no shadows and a body far longer than usual. Buyers pushed all the way through the candle.
- Bearish Marubozu — A weapon that finds and marks falling candles with almost no shadows and a body far longer than usual. Sellers pushed all the way through the candle.
- Bullish Engulfing — A weapon that marks a large rising candle whose body completely wraps the previous falling candle’s body, in a downtrend.
- Bearish Engulfing — A weapon that marks a large falling candle whose body completely wraps the previous rising candle’s body, in an uptrend.
- Piercing Line — A weapon that marks, in a downtrend, a rising candle that opens below a long falling candle and closes above the middle of that candle’s body.
- Dark Cloud Cover — A weapon that marks, in an uptrend, a falling candle that opens above a long rising candle and closes below the middle of that candle’s body.
- Bullish Harami — A weapon that marks, in a downtrend, a small rising candle that fits entirely inside the body of the long falling candle before it.
- Bearish Harami — A weapon that marks, in an uptrend, a small falling candle that fits entirely inside the body of the long rising candle before it.
- 1. Reading a single candle
- 2. Trends and sideways moves