Direct Answer
A Takuri Line is a single-bar pattern appearing after a downtrend. It is essentially an extreme version of a Dragonfly Doji: a very small, near-zero body sits near the top of the bar's range, while an unusually long lower wick extends well below it.
Key Takeaways
- A Takuri Line is a single-bar pattern that appears after a downtrend, with a near-zero body sitting near the top of the range and an unusually long lower wick.
- It is essentially an extreme version of a Dragonfly Doji, the same near-zero body and long lower wick shape, but with the lower wick even longer relative to the bar's range.
- The Japanese term describes "testing the depth": the long lower wick shows price probing sharply lower before buyers rejected the move and pushed the close back up near the open.
- Because the wick is more extreme than a typical Dragonfly Doji's, some traders read it as a slightly stronger single-bar signal of rejection at a low, but it still only describes one bar.
- Confirmation still requires the next bar to close above the pattern's high; the dramatic wick alone is not a signal.
Takuri Line Candlestick Pattern: Formation, Meaning, and Signals
A Takuri Line is a single-bar bullish candlestick pattern that forms after a downtrend, with a near-zero body near the top of the range and an unusually long lower wick. It's essentially an extreme version of a Dragonfly Doji, and like any single-bar pattern its meaning depends on confirmation, not the shape alone.
What Is a Takuri Line?
A Takuri Line is a single-bar pattern appearing after a downtrend. It is essentially an extreme version of a Dragonfly Doji: a very small, near-zero body sits near the top of the bar's range, while an unusually long lower wick extends well below it. The open and close land close together near the high of the bar, while the low reaches far beneath them.
The Japanese term describes "testing the depth", the long lower wick shows price probing sharply lower during the bar before buyers stepped in and rejected that move, pushing the close back up near where the bar opened. The shape captures a sharp rejection of lower prices within a single bar, but on its own it is a description of that one bar, not a forecast of what follows.
How a Takuri Line Forms
Like a Dragonfly Doji, a Takuri Line requires a body that is near-zero, the open and close are close enough together that the real body collapses into a thin line near the top of the range. What separates a Takuri Line from a standard Dragonfly Doji is the lower wick: it is unusually long relative to the bar's range, more extreme than a typical Dragonfly Doji's lower wick.
Because the pattern appears after a downtrend, that long lower wick represents a sharp intraday (or intra-bar) probe to a new low followed by a strong rejection back toward the open. The near-zero body near the top of the range is what makes it a doji variant rather than a small-bodied candle like a Hammer.
Takuri Line Example
The chart below shows a deterministic, illustrative example: a downtrend leading in, a Takuri Line forming, then two possible continuations, a confirmation (price follows through higher) and a failure/look-alike (price breaks the pattern's low instead). Toggle between them to see why the pattern alone doesn't decide the outcome.
How to Trade a Takuri Line
Read the extended wick as a stronger, not certain, signal
Because the lower wick on a Takuri Line is even more extreme than a typical Dragonfly Doji's, some traders read it as a slightly stronger single-bar signal of rejection at a low. That reading still describes only one bar's behavior, it's not a guarantee that the downtrend has ended.
Wait for confirmation
Confirmation still means waiting for the next bar to close above the Takuri Line's high before treating the pattern as an actionable bullish signal. Skipping this step and acting on the wick alone removes the check that separates a real rejection from a random probe.
Define invalidation before acting
A close back below the Takuri Line's low on a following bar invalidates the bullish read, the probe lower simply continued rather than being rejected. Setting this level before the next bar closes keeps the invalidation rule from being adjusted after the fact.
Common Takuri Line Mistakes
- Treating any long-lower-wick candle as a Takuri Line, without checking that the body is genuinely near-zero, a candle with a small but real body is closer to a Hammer instead.
- Skipping confirmation because the wick looks dramatic, an unusually long wick can look like a strong signal on its own, but it still requires the next bar to close above the pattern's high.
- Ignoring the surrounding trend, the pattern's bullish reading only applies after a downtrend; the same shape elsewhere carries less meaning.
- Confusing it with a standard Dragonfly Doji, the two share the same basic shape, and mislabeling one as the other can lead to overstating or understating the strength of the signal.
Takuri Line vs. Similar Patterns
| Pattern | Body size | Key difference from a Takuri Line |
|---|---|---|
| Takuri Line | Near zero | Baseline, near-zero body, extremely long lower wick, more extreme than a standard Dragonfly Doji |
| Dragonfly Doji | Near zero | Near-zero body and a long lower wick, but a less extreme wick-to-range ratio |
| Hammer | Small but real | Has a visible open-close body; the body is not required to be near-zero |
Limitations of the Takuri Line Pattern
A Takuri Line is a description of one bar's shape, not a forecast. It carries no information about volume, order flow, or why the intra-bar probe lower was rejected, a Takuri Line formed around a scheduled news release behaves differently from one that formed on ordinary trading. It also says nothing about the size of any following move: a Takuri Line can precede a strong reversal or none at all. Like any single-bar pattern, it works best combined with trend context, support/resistance, and a defined confirmation and invalidation plan, not used alone.
An Extreme With No Defined Threshold
A takuri line is a dragonfly doji with a longer lower wick, and that is the entire distinction. Since nobody specifies how much longer, the boundary between the two is a matter of judgment, and the same bar can be described either way depending on who is looking. If you use both terms, decide what separates them for your own purposes, or accept that you are describing a degree rather than a category.
The extremity is the reason the pattern gets its own name. A very long lower wick with the close back near the top says price was tested a long way down and none of it held, which is a stronger version of the same observation the dragonfly makes.
Everything else it inherits. It needs a downtrend in front of it for the rejection reading to apply, the near-zero body is subject to the same doji tolerance question, and the four prices give no indication of when in the session the low was reached.
The long wick also has a practical cost. Any invalidation level taken from the bar low sits far below the close, so a position based on it is wide by construction and has to be sized against that distance rather than against the small body.
Takuri Line FAQs
Is a Takuri Line always a bullish reversal signal?
No. A Takuri Line only describes one bar's shape, a near-zero body near the top of the range with an extremely long lower wick after a downtrend. Whether it turns into a reversal depends on confirmation from the next bar, not the shape alone.
What's the difference between a Takuri Line and a Dragonfly Doji?
Both have a near-zero body near the top of the range with a long lower wick. A Takuri Line is essentially an extreme version of a Dragonfly Doji, with an unusually long lower wick relative to the bar's range, the Japanese term describes "testing the depth" of the sell-off.
How is a Takuri Line different from a Hammer?
A Hammer has a small but real body, visible open-close separation, near the top of its range with a long lower wick. A Takuri Line requires the body to be near-zero, more like a doji variant than a small-bodied candle.
Does a Takuri Line need confirmation?
Yes. Even though the long lower wick can look dramatic, a Takuri Line by itself only shows that buyers rejected a sharp move lower on one bar. Traders typically wait for the next bar to close above the pattern's high before treating it as a signal.
What invalidates a Takuri Line signal?
If price closes back below the Takuri Line's low on a following bar, the tentative bullish reversal reading is invalidated, the probe lower simply continued instead of being rejected.
What does the takuri name refer to?
It is the Japanese term used for this shape in the original literature, usually glossed with the image of probing downward to find the bottom, which matches the very long lower shadow. As with most candlestick naming, the term describes the appearance and the interpretation was attached to it afterwards rather than derived from it.
How much longer is a takuri line shadow than a hammer shadow?
Substantially, and the boundary is not fixed. Where a hammer typically requires the lower shadow to be around twice the body, a takuri line requires it to be considerably longer, often three times or more. Since both use the same shape with different ratios, the classification depends entirely on where the implementation places the threshold between them.
Does the takuri body have to sit at the very top of the range?
At or extremely near it, with essentially no upper shadow. That is what separates the takuri line from an ordinary long-shadowed bar. A visible upper shadow means price traded above the body and returned, which changes what the session recorded. The tolerance on that upper shadow is another undocumented setting that decides whether the pattern is found.
Is the takuri line recognised by most charting platforms?
Less consistently than the hammer, since it sits in the long tail of the catalogue and many implementations simply classify these bars as hammers with long shadows. That means a takuri line is often present on a chart under a different label. It also means very little examined evidence exists about it specifically, as opposed to about hammers generally.
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