Hanging Man

A Hanging Man is anatomically identical to a Hammer — small body at the top of the range with a long lower wick — but printed at the top of an uptrend, where it signals hidden weakness beneath a rising market.

What it measures

Same geometry as the Hammer: small body in the upper third of the range, lower wick at least 2× the body, minimal upper wick. Context alone (uptrend) makes it bearish.

Parameters

Name	Default	Range	Note
wick_to_body	2.0	1.5–4.0	Minimum lower-wick-to-body ratio.
require_uptrend	true	true, false	Must print after an uptrend, otherwise the shape is a bullish hammer.

How it behaves

The long lower wick in an uptrend shows that intraday sellers were able to push price down substantially before buyers recovered it — the first sign that the buying is thinning. Confirmation is a red candle the next session that closes below the hanging man's body.

When it misleads

Alone, it is a weak signal — many hanging men fire and the uptrend continues unbothered. Always require confirmation and a resistance context. The Hanging Man is more of a "raise awareness" cue than a direct short trigger.

Backtest result

Sourced backtest in preparation — we're running the rule on our own historical candles before publishing numbers we can stand behind.

FAQ

Should I short a Hanging Man directly?: Not on the candle itself. Wait for a lower close on the next candle, ideally with above-average volume. Direct entries have a poor track record on this pattern.
Is a green Hanging Man valid?: Yes, but red is stronger — a red close on the pattern candle already shows sellers had the final say despite the bounce off the wick low.
Same as a Shooting Star?: No — a Shooting Star has the wick at the top (long upper wick, small body at the bottom of the range). Hanging Man has the wick at the bottom. Both are bearish in uptrends, different shapes.

Build a strategy with Hanging Man

Drop the block into the Nodlow builder and backtest on real historical data.

Try it in the builder