Single Candlestick Patterns — Marubozu

A single candlestick pattern is a trading signal generated by just one candle. You do not need to wait for a second or third candle to confirm the setup. The shape, size, and position of that one candle tells you enough to make a trading decision.

• The length of the real body reflects the intensity of buying or selling. A long body means one side dominated convincingly.
• A short body means neither side had control — the session was a tug of war.
• The shadows (wicks) show you the extremes of the battle. Long shadows mean prices were rejected from those levels.
• The colour tells you who won the session. Green (bullish) means buyers closed higher than they opened; red (bearish) means sellers pushed the close below the open.

The first single-candle pattern we will study is the Marubozu — the boldest, most decisive candle you will encounter on any chart.

The word "Marubozu" comes from Japanese and roughly translates to "bald" or "shaved head." The name refers to the defining feature of this candle: it has no shadows whatsoever. The open equals one extreme, and the close equals the other.

This is the strongest single-candle signal in candlestick analysis. When you see a marubozu, it means one side — buyers or sellers — controlled the entire session from open to close without any meaningful pushback from the opposing side.

In a bullish marubozu, the open equals the low and the close equals the high. Buyers stepped in the moment the market opened and pushed the price upward throughout the entire session without allowing sellers to pull it back even once.

Imagine TATAMOTORS on a particular trading day: the stock opens at Rs.620 and immediately starts climbing. At no point during the session does it dip below Rs.620. By the closing bell, it trades at Rs.658 — a solid 6.1% gain with no lower shadow and no upper shadow. This is a textbook bullish marubozu.

• The complete absence of a lower shadow means buyers never lost control — not even briefly.
• The absence of an upper shadow means there was no selling pressure at the top — buyers were still hungry at the close.
• This signals extreme buying conviction and suggests that buying interest is likely to continue into the next session.

Trade Setup

A bearish marubozu is the mirror image: the open equals the high and the close equals the low. Sellers controlled the session from start to finish. Buyers did not manage a single meaningful recovery at any point during the day.

Consider WIPRO on a weak day: the stock opens at Rs.485 — and that turns out to be the highest price of the entire session. From the opening tick, sellers hammer the price lower. By the close, WIPRO sits at Rs.462 — a decline of 4.7%, with zero upper shadow and zero lower shadow. Pure selling conviction.

• No upper shadow means buyers never even attempted a recovery after the open.
• No lower shadow means selling pressure was relentless right until the closing bell.
• This signals extreme bearish conviction. If you are long (holding), a bearish marubozu is a clear warning to exit.

Trade Setup

In a textbook definition, a marubozu has absolutely zero shadows. In practice, finding a perfect marubozu on a real NSE chart is uncommon. Most sessions will have at least a tiny shadow on one or both ends.

The practical approach is to allow some tolerance. If the shadow is very small relative to the body — typically less than 1 - 2% of the total candle range — you can still treat the candle as a marubozu for trading purposes.

• A SBIN candle with open Rs.620, low Rs.618, high Rs.655, close Rs.655 has a tiny Rs.2 lower shadow on a Rs.37 body. This is effectively a bullish marubozu.
• An ITC candle with open Rs.442, high Rs.443, low Rs.418, close Rs.418 has a Rs.1 upper shadow on a Rs.24 body. This qualifies as a bearish marubozu.
• However, if the shadow is 3 - 5% or more of the candle range, the conviction is diluted. Treat it as a strong directional candle, but not a marubozu.