What is Pin bar?
In short
A candle with a small body at one end and a long "tail" (wick) that sticks out clearly beyond the neighbouring candles. The tail marks a price that was tested and rejected.
Also known as: pinocchio bar
A pin bar is a candle with a small body at one end and a long "tail" (wick) at the other; the tail sticks out clearly beyond the neighbouring candles. The name comes from "Pinocchio bar": the long "nose" lied about price — price went there but couldn't stay.
Types
- Bullish pin bar — a long lower tail. Price tested lower and was rejected. It looks like a hammer.
- Bearish pin bar — a long upper tail. Price tested higher and was rejected. It looks like a shooting star.
Signs of a good pin bar
- The tail makes up at least ~2/3 of the candle's total length.
- The body sits at the opposite end of the range.
- The tail probes a key level — support, resistance or a moving average.
- The tail clearly protrudes beyond neighbouring candles (the "nose").
How it is traded
The usual approach: enter on a break above the pin bar's high (for a bullish one), stop slightly beyond the tail's tip. The tail tip gives a clear invalidation point — if price returns there, the idea was wrong. The downside: a long tail means a distant stop and therefore a small position. Some traders enter on a pullback to the middle of the tail to shorten the stop, at the cost of sometimes missing the entry.
A pullback in an uptrend dipped into a support zone: the pin bar's long tail reached $36.60 and was rejected. Inside the next "mother" candle ($37.90–$39.40) a small inside bar formed — a squeeze. Entry when the mother bar's high breaks ($39.50).
Example
Illustrative (bullish pin bar): a stock pulls back to $75 support. Candle: open $76.20, high $76.80, low $72.50, close $76.60. Prior candles' lows are around $75.50.
- Range: $76.80 − $72.50 = $4.30
- Tail: $76.20 − $72.50 = $3.70 — about 86% of the range
- Body: $0.40
Entry $76.90 (above the candle's high), stop $72.30 (below the tail). Risk: $4.60. $10,000 account, 1% risk ($100): $100 ÷ $4.60 ≈ 21.7 → 21 shares. You can check the math in the position size calculator.
Mistakes and tips
Not every long-wicked candle is a pin bar: the tail must clearly stick out from the neighbours and sit at a key level.
A pin bar in the direction of the trend (lower tail in an uptrend) is far more reliable than one against it.
Don't put the stop right at the tail's tip: price often tests it once more.
Tag your pin bar trades in a trading journal — your own data will show where they work for you.
Frequently asked questions
- Is a pin bar the same as a hammer?
- A bullish pin bar and a hammer are very similar. The pin bar term puts more emphasis on the tail sticking out from neighbouring candles and on rejection at a level; colour and trend position matter less.
- Where do you put the stop-loss on a pin bar?
- Usually slightly beyond the tip of the tail. If price returns there, the rejection idea is broken.
Learn it in the Academy
This term is covered with hands-on examples and a quiz in these lessons of the interactive course.
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