Three Line Strike
A (bullish) Three Line Strike is a four-candle pattern: three consecutive bullish candles with higher closes, followed by a single bearish candle that opens higher and closes below the first candle's open — despite looking like a sharp reversal, it's classically treated as a continuation signal.
The sharp counter-move looks alarming, but historically the prevailing trend tends to resume shortly after — the 'strike' is often a shakeout of late entrants rather than a genuine reversal.
- Three consecutive candles moving in the same direction with progressively higher (or lower, for the bearish version) closes.
- A fourth 'strike' candle in the opposite direction that opens beyond the third candle and closes beyond the first candle's open, engulfing all three.
- Because the fourth candle looks like a strong reversal, this pattern is easy to misread — many traders wait for the next candle to confirm the original trend resumes before acting.
- Stop-loss is typically placed at the extreme of the strike candle.
Educational only — not financial advice. Combine any candlestick pattern with broader market context, risk management, and your own trading plan.
Common questions
It can be either — a bullish version (three rising candles + one sharp down candle) signals continuation higher, and a bearish version (mirror image) signals continuation lower.