Pin bar: a hammer under another name

What the term covers

A pin bar is a candle with a small body and a long shadow on one side only, the shadow usually making two thirds or more of the total height. The body sits at the end opposite the shadow.

The vocabulary adds two words. The nose is the long shadow, the part that sticks out. And the neighbouring candle the pin bar sits within is sometimes called the eye.

Now compare with what you have already read. A bullish pin bar, long lower shadow and small body on top, after a decline, is a hammer. A bearish pin bar, long upper shadow, after a rise, is a shooting star. They are the same candles, described with a different word.

The only difference lies in the requirement of a prior trend. The hammer demands a decline before it. The pin bar, in most teachings, does not: it is read mainly against a level, not against a trend. That is a real nuance, and it changes what you measure.

Why it has no numbers of its own

The two major public catalogues do not know this term. Among the one hundred and three candle types ranked by Thomas Bulkowski, none is called a pin bar. Among the thirty-nine price patterns ranked by the same author, none either. Checked in the site indexes in September 2026.

That is not a criticism of the pattern, it is an observation about vocabulary: the pin bar belongs to the language of price action, not to that of statistical catalogues, which use the Japanese names.

What it implies concretely, and it should be said plainly: any statistic you read about the pin bar comes from somebody who counted it themselves, with their own shadow threshold, on their own sample. That is not necessarily wrong, but it compares to nothing.

The closest verifiable figures are the hammer's, since it is the same candle under a trend condition: bullish reversal 60% of the time, performance rank 65 out of 103. Treat them as a boundary, not as an answer.

What actually makes the difference

If the candle carries nothing by itself, then what remains is what price action schools have always said, and they are right on this point: the place is what counts.

A pin bar sitting on a level you were already following before it appeared is an event. The same pin bar in the middle of a range is noise. The candle only timestamps the rejection, it does not create it.

Hence the test that applies to every pattern in this file, and applies double here: hide the name of the pattern. If you would take the trade knowing only the context, the pattern adds nothing, it reassures you. If you would not take it without the pattern, be careful.

Two shape criteria improve sorting, and they are shared with the hammer. A long shadow is worth more than a short one. And a candle closing in the third opposite the shadow is cleaner than one closing in the middle.

How to trade it

The cautious entry is on a break of the far end of the body, meaning the side opposite the shadow. The aggressive entry is at the close. The first costs price and removes failures, the second does the opposite.

The stop goes at the tip of the shadow, with exactly the same consequence as for the hammer: the longer the shadow, the further the stop, so the smaller the position. The most impressive pin bar is the most expensive to handle.

The target does not come from the candle. Aim at the first genuinely defended level beyond, not at a multiple chosen in advance.

What it gives in your own journal

This is the pattern in this file where the journal counts most, precisely because no public statistic covers you. You are forced to build your own, and it is doable.

Three labels are enough. Was the pin bar on a level you were already following, yes or no. Was the shadow more than two thirds of the candle, yes or no. And did it go with the visible trend, or against it.

Thirty trades labelled that way will give you what no course can give you: the win rate of your pin bar, according to the three conditions that distinguish it. That is exactly the kind of record nobody keeps, and it is why everybody argues about this pattern without ever settling it.

Add maximum adverse excursion to find out whether your stop at the tip of the shadow earns its place or forces you to trade too small. Tradoshi computes that measurement automatically and combines labels in the journal filter.

Frequently asked questions

Pin bar and hammer, what is the difference? The candle is the same. The hammer demands a decline before it, the pin bar is read mainly against a level. The context condition changes, not the shape.

How much shadow is needed? Two thirds of the candle is the most widespread threshold. No threshold is authoritative, so pick yours and write it down, otherwise you cannot count anything.

Why is there no official statistic? Because the term does not exist in the reference catalogues, which use the Japanese names. The pin bar is a school's name, not a statistical category.

Does it work intraday? It is very frequent there, therefore very unselective. The level filter then becomes the only thing saving it.

Do you need confirmation? Entering on a break of the body is the cautious version and the one the hammer's figures support best.