What is the midpoint in a piercing line candlestick pattern?

It is halfway between the first candle open and close. An open of 110 and close of 100 gives 105. The second candle must close above 105 for the strict midpoint test; a high above 105 is insufficient.

Does a piercing line have to gap below the previous low?

Yes under the TradingView definition cited here. StockCharts uses an open below the previous close. Choose and disclose one convention so chart labels and test results can be compared.

Can a piercing pattern appear without a gap in forex or crypto?

A similar two-candle recovery can appear, but it fails a strict gap test if the open is not below the required level. A no-gap detector is a custom variant. Record its equality or tolerance rule and evaluate it separately.

How is a piercing line different from bullish engulfing?

Here the piercing close is above the first body midpoint but below its open. Bullish engulfing covers the whole first body. Engulfing the first candle high and low is not required.

Does waiting for the candle close prevent every repainting issue?

No. It prevents this midpoint decision from using an unfinished chart candle. A script can still use unconfirmed higher-timeframe data or other changing inputs. Review those inputs and alert timing separately.

What is the best timeframe or win rate for a piercing line?

This page provides no measured ranking or win rate. A useful comparison needs the same gap and trend definitions, entry and exit rules, market sample and trading costs. Changing those assumptions changes the experiment.

Piercing Line Candlestick Pattern: Midpoint and Gap Rules

A piercing line candlestick pattern is a possible bullish reversal after a decline: a bearish candle is followed by a bullish candle that closes above the midpoint of the first real body. The opening gap matters. TradingView requires an open below the prior low; a pattern without that gap needs a different rule label. The completed shape does not establish that the downtrend has ended.

Key Takeaways

The midpoint uses the first open and close. A wick above it does not satisfy a closing-price rule.
A strict low-gap pattern and a relaxed continuous-market variant produce different signal sets.
Full body engulfing concerns the candle bodies; it does not require engulfing both wicks.
An additional confirmation candle introduces delay. Evaluate that tradeoff with specified rules and costs.

Measure the body midpoint before calling the pattern

Use the first candle open and close, not its high and low: midpoint = (first open + first close) / 2. The second close must exceed that value. This page keeps a piercing label only while that close remains below the first open, separating a partial recovery from full body engulfing. A close exactly at the midpoint fails the strict greater-than test.

Check for a preceding decline and record how your detector defines it.
Require a bearish first candle with a substantial body and a bullish second candle.
Specify the opening-gap convention before counting signals.
Evaluate the second close after the candle finishes, not from its intrabar high.

An illustrative midpoint calculation

Assume a decline leads into a first candle that opens at 110 and closes at 100, with a low of 99. Its body midpoint is 105. A second candle opening at 98 and closing at 106 meets the strict gap and midpoint tests. The recovery into the first body is (106 - 100) / (110 - 100) = 60%. That percentage measures penetration, not a probability of profit.

Change only the second close; keep its open at 98
Second close	Body recovery	Classification in this example
104	40%	Below the midpoint; fails
105	50%	At the midpoint; fails the strict threshold
106	60%	Piercing line
111	110%	Full body engulfing; relabel the pattern

Hypothetical piercing line: 106 closes above the 105 midpoint

OHLC values for Hypothetical piercing line: 106 closes above the 105 midpoint
Bar	Open	High	Low	Close
Prior decline	114	115	109	110
First candle	110	111	99	100
Second candle	98	107	97	106

Hollow bodies close at or above the open. Filled bodies close below the open.

Illustrative OHLC values, not historical prices or a backtest. The first body spans 100 to 110; its midpoint is 105. Earlier trend history is assumed and is not fully shown.

Stocks, forex and crypto: name the gap convention

TradingView and StockCharts publish different opening tests. TradingView specifies an open below the previous low, while StockCharts describes an open below the previous close. A session break on a stock chart can produce either case. On bars within a continuous trading session, the next open may equal the previous close, so a strict gap detector can reject a visually similar recovery. Check the actual OHLC and session setting rather than relaxing the rule silently.

Opening tests with the example first close of 100 and low of 99
Convention	Second open	Interpretation
TradingView strict gap	Below 99	Below the entire prior range
StockCharts close gap	Below 100	May remain inside the prior range
Custom continuous-market variant	At 100, or within a stated tolerance	Removes the strict gap; test and report separately

If using a tolerance, state its unit and maximum value, such as one minimum price tick.
Keep symbol, timeframe and regular or extended session settings fixed when comparing detections.
A forex or crypto label does not waive the selected gap condition.

Piercing line versus bullish engulfing

The distinction is how much of the first real body the second candle covers. In the example, a 106 close recovers part of the 100-to-110 body; a 111 close covers it fully when paired with the 98 open. Bullish engulfing does not require the second high and low to engulf the first wicks. Classifying the shape does not establish which pattern has a better trading expectancy.

Separate pattern completion from trade confirmation

An unfinished second candle can rise above the midpoint and then close below it. Waiting for its closing update fixes that particular ambiguity. Requiring a later candle to close above the second high is an additional strategy condition: it delays the decision and can change the entry price. It is not part of the two-candle shape and does not guarantee a successful reversal.

Illustrative research rule: after the example closes at 106, require the next candle to close above 107; otherwise skip the setup.
Illustrative invalidation: cancel that setup if price trades below the two-candle low of 97 before the confirmation close.
If both levels are crossed within one historical bar, OHLC alone may not reveal the order. Specify how the test handles that case.
For a strategy test, define the fill timing, exit, sizing, spread, commissions and slippage separately. A stop level is not a guaranteed fill price.

Pineify next step

Turn your chosen definition into inspectable rules

Use Pineify AI Coding Agent to draft a detector with a penetration threshold, gap mode, trend filter and closed-candle requirement. Compare its labels with the worked example and near misses before using it. The Visual Editor offers a separate route for combining available conditions; custom gap variants may require generated code. This page explains the pattern and does not scan live markets.

Draft piercing line rules Explore the Visual Editor

Sources and verification

Last verified: 2026-10-16

Related Resources

TradingView candlestick pattern guides Bullish engulfing: full body coverage Dark cloud cover: the bearish counterpart Create a custom candlestick indicator for TradingView

Educational information, not investment advice. All numerical examples are hypothetical. A candlestick pattern can fail, and trading can result in losses. A historical test does not guarantee future results.