Marubozu

The marubozu is one of the most decisive candlestick patterns in technical analysis — a full-bodied candle with no upper or lower shadows, indicating that buyers or sellers dominated price action from open to close without any meaningful pushback. A bullish marubozu (green or white) opens at the session low and closes at the high, while a bearish marubozu (red or black) opens at the high and closes at the low. This pattern is most reliable on daily and 4-hour charts across equities, futures, and forex, serving as a momentum confirmation signal that helps traders gauge the strength of a move.

How to Identify a Marubozu

1. Full candle body with no upper shadow — The candle should have no visible wick above the body, or at most a negligible shadow less than 0.5% of the body height. For a bullish marubozu, the close is at or extremely near the session high.

2. No lower shadow — The opposite end of the candle is also shadow-free. For a bullish marubozu, the open is at or near the session low. For a bearish marubozu, the close sits at the session low with no wick below.

3. Body size significantly exceeds average — Compare the marubozu body to the average candle body over the past 20 bars. A valid marubozu should be at least 1.5x the average body size, visually standing out from surrounding candles.

4. Above-average volume confirms conviction — The volume on the marubozu candle should exceed the 20-period volume average, ideally by 1.5x or more. A marubozu on declining volume is a weaker signal and should be treated with caution.

The key distinction between a marubozu and other large-body candles is the complete absence of shadows. Where a hammer or shooting star shows rejection at one end, and a doji shows total indecision, the marubozu shows zero hesitation — one side controlled price for the entire session.

Entry Rules

1. Enter on the next candle’s open or a pullback to the marubozu midpoint — For a bullish marubozu, go long at the next session’s open for aggressive entries, or wait for a pullback to the midpoint of the marubozu body for better risk-reward. Bearish marubozu entries work in reverse.

2. Confirm the direction aligns with the prevailing trend or a structural break — A bullish marubozu in an uptrend is a continuation signal. A marubozu against the trend requires additional confirmation, such as breaking through a key resistance level or appearing after an engulfing pattern.

3. Require volume at least 1.5x the 20-bar average — This threshold separates genuine conviction from ordinary large candles. Without the volume confirmation, the pattern loses a significant portion of its edge.

Exit Rules & Targets

1. Primary target: 1.5x the marubozu body height — Measure from your entry price. This provides a conservative target that accounts for the momentum implied by the pattern.

2. Secondary target: next major support or resistance level — If the primary target falls short of a key level, extend to that level. If a major level sits before the primary target, consider taking partial profits there.

3. Trail stop using completed candle lows (bullish) or highs (bearish) — After price moves in your favor by at least 1x the body height, begin trailing your stop to the low of each completed candle for longs, or the high for shorts.

Target Calculation: Measure the full height of the marubozu candle body (close minus open for bullish). Multiply this value by 1.5. Add the result to your entry price for a bullish trade, or subtract from entry for a bearish trade. For example, a bullish marubozu with a $5 body yields a $7.50 measured target from entry.

Stop Loss Placement

Place the stop loss just below the low of a bullish marubozu candle, or just above the high of a bearish marubozu. This level represents the full invalidation point — if price retraces the entire marubozu body, the conviction thesis is broken. For a bullish marubozu with a $5 body, this gives a natural risk unit. With a 1.5x body target, the minimum reward-to-risk ratio is approximately 1.5:1, which improves to 2:1 or better when entering on a midpoint pullback.

Practical Example

On the daily chart of AAPL, a bullish marubozu forms on March 10, 2026. The stock opens at $218.00 and closes at $225.50, producing a $7.50 full body with no upper or lower shadows. Volume comes in at 82 million shares versus the 20-day average of 51 million — a 1.6x spike confirming strong buyer conviction.

A trader with a $25,000 account enters at the next day’s open at $225.80. The stop goes below the marubozu low at $217.80, risking $8.00 per share. With a 1% account risk ($250), position size is 31 shares. The primary target is 1.5x the body height ($11.25) above entry, placing the target at $237.05. Over the next six trading days, AAPL reaches $238.20 as momentum continues. The trader exits at the $237.05 target, capturing $11.25 per share for a total gain of $348.75 — a 1.4:1 reward-to-risk ratio.

Best Timeframes for Marubozu

Daily charts produce the most tradeable marubozu signals because they capture a full session of uncontested control by one side. A daily marubozu represents 6.5 hours of sustained buying or selling pressure without meaningful retracement, which carries real significance. Four-hour charts also generate reliable signals, particularly in forex and futures markets that trade around the clock. Weekly marubozu candles are rare but represent an entire week of dominance and often precede multi-week trends. On timeframes below 1 hour, marubozu candles appear too frequently to carry statistical weight and should generally be avoided as standalone signals.

Common Mistakes

1. Trading against the prevailing trend without confirmation — A single bullish marubozu in a strong downtrend is more likely a short-covering bounce than a reversal. Require a structural break or a confirming pattern like a morning star before fading the trend.

2. Ignoring volume context — A marubozu on below-average volume may simply reflect a low-liquidity session (holiday week, after-hours drift) rather than genuine conviction. Always check volume relative to the 20-bar average.

3. Setting stops at the marubozu midpoint instead of the full candle — The midpoint stop gets triggered by normal pullbacks. The pattern is only invalidated when the entire body is retraced, so stops belong beyond the full candle extreme.

4. Treating near-marubozu candles as equivalent — Candles with visible wicks of 1-2% of the body are large-body candles, not true marubozu. The power of the pattern comes from the complete absence of rejection. Accept only wicks under 0.5% of body height.

How to Journal Marubozu Trades

Journal Field	What to Record	Why It Matters
Pattern Type	Bullish or bearish marubozu	Separate performance stats by direction
Body Size	Absolute and relative to 20-bar average	Identify minimum body size that works for your setups
Volume Ratio	Marubozu volume / 20-bar average volume	Find your personal volume threshold for high-probability trades
Trend Context	With-trend, counter-trend, or range	Discover which context produces the best win rate
Entry Type	Open, midpoint pullback, or breakout	Determine which entry method gives the best risk-reward
Shadow Quality	Perfect (zero) or near-marubozu (under 0.5%)	Track whether strict filtering improves your results
Outcome R-Multiple	Profit or loss divided by initial risk	Measure actual reward-to-risk over a sample of trades

After logging 50 or more marubozu trades, filter by these fields to reveal which variations — bullish vs. bearish, with-trend vs. counter-trend, entry type — perform best for your trading style and preferred markets. JournalPlus’s custom tags and filtering tools make it straightforward to isolate these subsets and compare win rates, average R-multiples, and expectancy across pattern variations.