Bullish Harami Pattern

What a bullish harami is

A bullish harami is a candlestick pattern made of a pair of candles. A large down candle (the "mother") comes first. It is followed by a small up candle (the "baby") whose body sits inside the mother's body. "Harami" is Japanese for "pregnant", which explains the names.

It is a possible reversal pattern. It appears after a decline and suggests selling pressure may be fading. It does not show that buyers have taken control.

If you are new to reading bodies and wicks, start with Reading Candlestick Charts.

Formation rules

• Prior decline. Price should be falling into the pattern. A harami in the middle of a sideways range carries little meaning.
• Large mother candle. The down candle should have a clearly larger body than the recent candles. It should show strong selling.
• Small baby candle. The next candle closes higher than it opens, and its body is small.
• Body inside body. The baby's open and close both lie within the mother's open-to-close range. The strict version also requires the baby's wicks to stay inside the mother's range. The common version only checks the bodies.
• Colour. The classic bullish harami has an up baby. If the baby is a doji, the pattern is a Harami Cross.

In forex and other markets that trade around the clock, the baby usually opens at or very near the mother's close. Its body therefore often sits at the bottom edge of the mother's body rather than in the middle. That still counts, as long as the baby's body stays within the mother's range.

What it says about buyers and sellers

The mother candle shows sellers in control, with price closing well below where it opened. On the baby candle, sellers fail to push price lower and the range shrinks. Price also closes slightly up.

This shows hesitation, not a change of control. Sellers have paused. Buyers have not yet proved anything. That is why the pattern is weaker than a Bullish Engulfing, where the up candle covers the whole of the prior down body.

Where it matters

Context decides how much weight the pattern gets:

• Trend. It matters more after a clear, extended decline than after a short dip inside an uptrend.
• Level. It is more relevant at a support zone, a previous swing low or a round-number area. A harami in empty space between levels is easy to ignore.
• Timeframe. Daily and weekly candles reflect more trading activity than short intraday candles. On very short timeframes, small-bodied candles inside larger ones appear constantly and mean little.

A drawn example

The chart below is an illustration, not real market data.

Price falls in a series of down candles into a support zone. A large down candle reaches the zone. A small up candle follows inside its body, forming the harami. Later candles close above the mother's open, which many traders treat as confirmation.

How traders seek confirmation

Common approaches include:

• A close above the mother. Wait for a later candle to close above the mother's open, or at least above the baby's high. The harami followed by such a close is the Three Inside Up/Down pattern.
• Level agreement. Check that the pattern sits at a support area visible on a higher timeframe.
• Momentum. Look for an oscillator such as RSI making a higher low while price makes a lower low (divergence).
• Volume. On exchange-traded instruments, rising volume on the up move adds weight. In forex, platforms show tick volume only, which is a rough proxy.

Confirmation reduces false readings but does not remove them. A reference point some traders use for invalidation is a move below the mother's low. For position sizing and stop placement, see Risk management.

Why it fails in isolation

• Continuation pause. In a strong downtrend, a small candle inside a large one is often just a rest before the next leg down. This is the same structure as an Inside Bar.
• Weak mother candle. If the mother is not clearly larger than recent candles, the "pattern" is only noise.
• News. A data release can move price straight through the mother's low.
• Low timeframe. Short candles produce many haramis, and most of them lead nowhere.

Leveraged forex and CFD trading can lose money fast. A pattern on its own does not change that. Practising pattern recognition on a demo account carries no money risk.

Frequent questions

What is the bullish harami meaning in simple terms?

A large down candle is followed by a small up candle inside its body. It suggests selling pressure is slowing after a decline.

Is a bullish harami a buy signal?

No. It is an early sign of hesitation. Traders usually wait for confirmation and consider the trend and price levels.

What is the difference between a bullish and a bearish harami?

They are mirror images. The Bearish Harami has a small down candle inside a large up candle after a rise.

Do the wicks need to be inside the mother candle?

In the strict definition, yes. Most traders only require the baby's body to sit inside the mother's body.

Where can I learn related patterns?

See the full list on Candlestick Patterns and the wider methods in Technical analysis.