Glossary · Candlestick patterns

Piercing line

A two-candle bullish reversal pattern: a long bearish candle, then a bullish candle opening lower and closing above the first body's midpoint.

By Sky Trade editorial teamUpdated November 5, 2026

The piercing line forms after a decline. The first candle is a long bearish one. The second opens below the first candle's close — classically with a gap — then rallies to close above the midpoint of the first body, but not above its open. If it closed above the open, the pattern would be a bullish engulfing instead.

The idea is that the second candle's open looks like more selling, while its strong close shows buyers taking back more than half of the previous candle's loss.

In round-the-clock forex the second candle usually opens right where the first closed, so the gap rarely exists. Many traders accept a looser version in which the second candle simply closes deep into the first body. That looser version is more common and, for the same reason, less special.

What to check: a genuine prior decline, a location at support and confirmation by the following candle. Its bearish counterpart at the top of a rise is the dark cloud cover. See piercing line and dark cloud cover.

Example

AUD/USD on M15: a bearish candle from 0.6680 to 0.6650 (midpoint 0.6665), then a bullish candle from 0.6648 to 0.6669. It closes above the midpoint but below 0.6680, which makes it a piercing line.

Learn more in the academy

Piercing line and dark cloud cover: the 50% rule explained
How piercing line and dark cloud cover patterns work, why the second candle must pass the first one's midpoint, and what changes without gaps.

Related terms

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