The Hammer — rejection of the low
Sellers dove, buyers slammed the door.
What you see
A candle with a little body at the top and a long lower wick 2–3× the body — sellers dove, buyers slammed the door.
What it means
The low was rejected. Demand stepped in and erased most of the sell-off before the close.
How it is traded
Enter above the hammer's high (aggressive) or above the next candle's high (conservative). Stop under the wick low.
What comes next
The reclaim tends to extend with higher lows; the level that broke before the hammer is the usual first target within a few candles.
How it fails
Without the preceding downtrend it's just a candle. A close near the low, or a wick that gets broken days later, kills the signal.
Quick check
What turns "a candle with a long lower wick" into a hammer?
- It appears after a downtrend, with the close near the top
- It is green
- It has no upper wick at all
- It prints on high timeframe only
Context and shape together: the same wick in an uptrend is just noise. The hammer is a rejection of lows in a decline.
This lesson is part of the free learning path at /academy/ — progress, XP and boss games live there.
Educational content only — not financial advice.