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The sniper's signal - a long wick shows price rejection and impending reversal
The Pin Bar (short for "Pinocchio Bar") is a single-candle reversal pattern characterized by a long wick (shadow) that extends at least 2/3 of the total bar length, a small body, and little to no wick on the opposite side.
What it signals: The long wick shows that price pushed strongly in one direction but was rejected. Buyers or sellers stepped in aggressively to push price back. This rejection suggests the market is ready to move the opposite direction.
Pin bars are one of the most reliable price action signals, especially when formed at key support/resistance levels, moving averages, or Fibonacci levels. The longer the wick relative to the body, the stronger the rejection.
The Pin Bar is pure price rejection made visible. The long shadow represents a level that was tested and forcefully rejected within a single session. Price traveled to that level, and the market said 'no' emphatically - pushing back to close near the opposite end of the range.
A bullish pin bar (long lower shadow) shows that sellers pushed price down aggressively during the session, but buyers absorbed every order and drove price back up. The shadow is the evidence of the battle, and the small body at the top is the verdict: buyers won.
The power of the pin bar is in its simplicity. Unlike multi-candle patterns that require interpretation, the pin bar tells you exactly what happened: a level was rejected. When that rejection occurs at a key support or resistance level, it provides one of the cleanest trade setups in technical analysis - tight stop beyond the shadow, clear target in the reversal direction.
Enter at 50% of pin bar's range for optimal R:R...
Beyond the tip of the pin bar's long shadow. This is the rejection point - if price returns past it, the rejection has failed. Bullish pin bar: stop below shadow low. Bearish: stop above shadow high.
T1: The open of the pin bar. T2: Previous swing level in the direction of the trade. T3: Trail with structure. Pin bars with longer shadows offer better R:R due to tighter stops relative to the move.
Often 1:3 or better. This is one of the best R:R patterns when the shadow is long and the body is small.
The Pin Bar is one of the most popular price action signals. Its effectiveness depends almost entirely on location - the same pin bar at a key level is a high-probability trade, while one in the middle of nowhere is noise.
The nose (body) should be at one extreme of the candle. Pin bars with the body in the middle are spinning tops, not pin bars.
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