Direct Answer
Meeting Lines is a two-candle pattern built around a matching close across a gap. The first candle and second candle open on opposite sides of a gap, meaning the second bar's open is displaced away from the first bar's close, but by the time the second bar closes, its closing price lands at or very near the first bar's close.
Key Takeaways
- Meeting Lines is a two-bar reversal pattern where two opposite-colored candles close at or very near the same price after opening on opposite sides of a gap.
- A bullish Meeting Lines forms after a downtrend: a long red candle followed by a gap-down open that rallies to close matching the first bar's close.
- Meeting Lines and Counterattack Lines describe the same underlying shape and are often used interchangeably in candlestick literature, they are not two distinct patterns.
- Confirmation typically means waiting for the next bar to close above the second bar's high before treating the pattern as an actionable signal.
- Meeting Lines is easy to confuse with a Tweezer Bottom (matching lows, not matching closes) or a Piercing Pattern (no matching-close requirement at all).
Meeting Lines Candlestick Pattern: Formation, Meaning, and Signals
A Meeting Lines pattern is a two-bar reversal where two opposite-colored candles close at or very near the same price after opening on opposite sides of a gap. The bullish version appears after a downtrend and is closely related to, and often used interchangeably with, the Counterattack Lines pattern.
What Is a Meeting Lines?
Meeting Lines is a two-candle pattern built around a matching close across a gap. The first candle and second candle open on opposite sides of a gap, meaning the second bar's open is displaced away from the first bar's close, but by the time the second bar closes, its closing price lands at or very near the first bar's close. That matching close is the defining feature of the pattern, not the gap itself or either candle's color alone.
The pattern is closely related to Counterattack Lines: both describe the same core structure of opposite-colored candles meeting at a shared close across a gap, and the two terms are frequently used interchangeably in candlestick literature rather than treated as separate patterns.
How a Meeting Lines Forms
A Bullish Meeting Lines forms after a downtrend. The first bar is a long red candle continuing the prevailing decline. The second bar opens with a gap down, below the first candle's close, but then rallies through the session, closing back up to match the first candle's close. The gap down shows sellers still in control at the open; the rally back to match the prior close shows that control reversing by the end of the bar.
Because both bars are required for the pattern to exist, a Meeting Lines can't be identified from either candle in isolation, it's the relationship between the two closes, across the gap, that defines it.
Meeting Lines Example
The chart below shows a deterministic, illustrative example: a downtrend leading in, the two Meeting Lines bars forming, then two possible continuations, a confirmation (price follows through in the reversal direction) and a failure/look-alike (price breaks the second bar's low instead). Toggle between them to see why the matching close alone doesn't decide the outcome.
How to Trade a Meeting Lines
Know it by either name
Meeting Lines and Counterattack Lines describe the same underlying shape, matching closes across a gap between opposite-colored bars. Recognizing that the two terms are used interchangeably keeps traders from treating a Counterattack Lines writeup as unrelated to a Meeting Lines setup, or vice versa, when the source material may use either name for the identical pattern.
Wait for confirmation
Confirmation typically means the next bar closes above the second bar's high. The matching close between the two Meeting Lines bars can look decisive on its own, but it only describes what happened over two bars, it doesn't guarantee the reversal continues into the following bar.
Define invalidation before acting
A close back below the second bar's low negates the tentative bullish read, since it shows the rally that produced the matching close failed to hold. Setting that invalidation level before the next bar closes keeps the read disciplined rather than reactive.
Common Meeting Lines Mistakes
- Treating Meeting Lines as a distinct pattern from Counterattack Lines, they describe the same matching-close structure and the terminology is used interchangeably in candlestick literature.
- Skipping confirmation because the matching close looks decisive on its own, a shared close across two bars still needs the next bar's close above the second bar's high before it's treated as a signal.
- Confusing matching closes with matching lows, that's a Tweezer Bottom, a structurally different pattern; see the comparison below.
- Ignoring the surrounding trend, a bullish Meeting Lines only makes sense as a reversal read when it appears after a downtrend, not in the middle of a range.
Meeting Lines vs. Similar Patterns
| Pattern | Defining requirement | Key difference from Meeting Lines |
|---|---|---|
| Meeting Lines | Matching closes across a gap | Baseline, terminology closely related to Counterattack Lines, often used interchangeably |
| Counterattack Lines | Matching closes across a gap | Same structural requirement as Meeting Lines; different name for the same shape |
| Tweezer Bottom | Matching lows | Requires matching LOWS instead of matching closes |
| Piercing Pattern | >50% penetration into first body | No matching-close requirement, just penetration into the first candle's body |
Limitations of the Meeting Lines Pattern
Meeting Lines describes a relationship between two bars' closes, not a forecast. It carries no information about volume, order flow, or why the second bar rallied back to meet the first bar's close, a matching close driven by a scheduled news release behaves differently from one that formed on ordinary trading. It also says nothing about magnitude: a Meeting Lines can precede a large move or none at all. Like any short pattern, it works best combined with trend context, support/resistance, and a defined confirmation and invalidation plan, not used alone.
One Pattern, Two Names
Meeting lines and counterattack lines describe the same two candles, and running into both names is more likely to cause confusion than to add information. If you keep a pattern list or test anything mechanically, pick one label and note the synonym, because counting both separately would double-count the same occurrences.
The construction is defined by the closes rather than the bodies. Two opposite-coloured candles open on either side of a gap and finish at or very near the same price, which means the second session entirely reversed its opening move and stopped exactly where the previous one had ended.
The direction of the reading comes from the gap and the preceding trend. A long red candle followed by a gap-down open that rallies to a matching close is the bullish version; the mirror after an advance is the bearish one. The candles alone do not carry the direction.
Matching closes are subject to the same tolerance question as matching highs or lows elsewhere in the family, and the gap requirement makes the pattern scarce in continuously traded markets.
Meeting Lines FAQs
Is Meeting Lines the same pattern as Counterattack Lines?
Yes, effectively. Both terms describe two opposite-colored candles that open on opposite sides of a gap and close at or very near the same price. The names are used interchangeably in candlestick literature, and treating them as separate patterns is a common source of confusion.
What makes Meeting Lines bullish?
A bullish Meeting Lines appears after a downtrend: a long red candle is followed by a gap-down open that rallies through the session to close matching the first candle's close, signaling that sellers lost control during the second bar.
How is Meeting Lines different from a Tweezer Bottom?
A Tweezer Bottom is defined by two candles sharing a matching low, not a matching close. Meeting Lines instead requires the two candles' closes to match across a gap, which is a different structural requirement even though both can appear at the end of a downtrend.
Does Meeting Lines need confirmation?
Yes. Confirmation typically means the next bar closes above the second bar's high. The matching close can look decisive on its own, but skipping confirmation is one of the more common mistakes traders make with this pattern.
How is Meeting Lines different from a Piercing Pattern?
A Piercing Pattern only requires the second candle to close more than halfway into the first candle's body, there's no requirement that the two closes match. Meeting Lines specifically requires the closes to land at or very near the same price.
What tolerance applies to the meeting price?
The two closes are supposed to be equal, and every practical implementation allows a band around that. Because the pattern requires candles of opposite colours with a gap between them, the closes converging exactly is genuinely unusual, so the tolerance largely determines how often the pattern is found. A narrow band returns very few instances in finely quoted instruments.
Does the size of the first candle matter?
The reading depends on it. Meeting lines is interpreted as a reversal because a strong move in one direction was met and neutralised, and that requires the first candle to have been substantial. Two small candles closing at the same price after a small gap satisfy the geometry and describe nothing. A size condition relative to recent bars is the usual filter.
How does meeting lines relate to the dark cloud cover family?
It is the shallowest member of a depth continuum. Meeting lines has the second candle stopping exactly at the previous close; dark cloud cover has it penetrating past the midpoint of the previous body; a bearish engulfing covers the body entirely. The three describe the same event at increasing degrees of penetration, which is why the bearish reading strengthens across them.
Does the second candle have to gap at the open?
Yes, in the classical description, and the gap is what makes the meeting notable. The second candle opens beyond the first in the direction of the prevailing move and then travels all the way back to the previous close. Without the gap, the second candle simply opens near the previous close and the convergence is unremarkable.
References
- CMT Association: Technical Analysis Body of Knowledge and Research
- CFA Institute Research and Policy Center: Investment Research
- Steve Nison, Japanese Candlestick Charting Techniques (1991), the book credited with popularizing Japanese candlestick analysis in Western markets.
- SEC Investor.gov: Introduction to Investing