| Updated: September 11, 2025Bars signalling reversal – basic features
This lesson will cover the following
- Reversal signals
- Features of a bull reversal bar
- Features of a bear reversal bar
Signals that can be highly relevant are usually provided by the so-called reversal bars. A reversal bar is an element on a price chart that reverses, to some extent, the direction of the preceding bar or a number of bars.
Every bull reversal bar on larger time frames consists of a bear trend bar on a smaller time frame and a bull trend bar on a smaller time frame, which are not necessarily consecutive. As all trend bars can represent breakouts, climaxes and spikes, depending on the context, we can define a bull reversal bar in the following way – first, price action reaches a sell climax, after which a breakout to the upside occurs.
In the case of a bear reversal bar, price action first reaches a buy climax (marked by a bull trend bar on a smaller time frame), after which a breakout to the downside occurs (marked by a bear trend bar on a smaller time frame).
Usually, traders prefer to see a reversal bar with a body in the opposite direction to the prior trend, but that is not strictly necessary.
Features of a bull reversal bar
A minimum requirement for a bull reversal bar is the appearance of a bullish body (a close price above the open price) or at least a close price above the midpoint of the bar. The most reliable bull reversal bars should display more than one of the following features:
1. An open price that is near or below the previous bar’s close, and a close price that is above both the open price and the previous bar’s close
2. A lower wick that is between one-third and one-half of the bar’s height, and a small or no upper wick
3. The bar shows little overlap with the previous bar or bars
4. The bar that follows is not a doji inside bar but instead a bullish trend bar with a large body and small wicks; the latter may be regarded as a strong entry bar
5. The bar’s close is above the close and high prices of more than one of the bars preceding it
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Features of a bear reversal bar
A minimum requirement for a bear reversal bar is the appearance of a bearish body (a close price below the open price) or at least a close price below the midpoint of the bar. The most reliable bear reversal bars should display more than one of the following features:
1. An open price that is near or above the previous bar’s close, and a close price that is below both the open price and the previous bar’s close
2. An upper wick that is between one-third and one-half of the bar’s height, and a small or no lower wick
3. The bar shows little overlap with the previous bar or bars
4. The bar that follows is not a doji inside bar but instead a bearish trend bar with a large body and small wicks; the latter may be regarded as a strong entry bar
5. The bar’s close is below the close and low prices of more than one of the bars preceding it
The fifth feature is valid for any strong trend bar (a strong breakout bar, entry bar, etc.). Let us define what ‘strong’ means in this context. If we are at the low of a downtrend and we spot a bull reversal bar whose close is above the closing prices of, say, the past six bars, while its high is above the highs of, say, the past three bars, we can conclude that this reversal bar is stronger than another one that closes above only the previous bar’s close and does not exceed the high of any earlier bar.