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S&P 500 chart patterns
We ran 56 candlestick patterns, chart patterns and indicator signals over S&P 500 (daily candles from January 2015 and hourly candles from September 2024) and counted 3,359 cases. Here is how often each one reached its target before its stop.
Best on S&P 500: inverted hammer (52% of 21), ema 9/21 bullish cross (46% of 112), tweezer bottom (45% of 22). Weakest: fibonacci bounce down (30% of 50), rsi overbought drop (32% of 136), bollinger breakout up (32% of 31). Most patterns hit the stop more often than the target: that is why the app teaches context and risk, not single signals.
Buy and sell setups, ranked
| Pattern | Found | Target first | Stop first | Went nowhere |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Inverted hammer | 21 | 52% | 48% | 0% |
| EMA 9/21 bullish cross | 112 | 46% | 42% | 12% |
| Tweezer bottom | 22 | 45% | 50% | 5% |
| Hanging man | 31 | 45% | 55% | 0% |
| Bullish marubozu | 63 | 44% | 46% | 10% |
| RSI oversold bounce | 70 | 44% | 53% | 3% |
| EMA 9/21 bearish cross | 109 | 43% | 56% | 1% |
| Bullish harami | 28 | 43% | 57% | 0% |
| Stochastic bullish cross | 207 | 42% | 56% | 2% |
| OBV bearish divergence | 27 | 41% | 59% | 0% |
| Gap up | 177 | 40% | 49% | 11% |
| Bullish engulfing | 28 | 39% | 57% | 4% |
| MACD bullish cross | 103 | 39% | 53% | 8% |
| Bearish engulfing | 64 | 38% | 62% | 0% |
| Volume profile bounce | 99 | 37% | 61% | 2% |
| Bearish marubozu | 60 | 37% | 63% | 0% |
| Fibonacci bounce up | 41 | 37% | 59% | 5% |
| Gap down | 146 | 36% | 64% | 0% |
| Stochastic bearish cross | 429 | 35% | 62% | 2% |
| Hammer | 23 | 35% | 61% | 4% |
| Bollinger breakout down | 23 | 35% | 61% | 4% |
| MACD bearish cross | 178 | 34% | 66% | 0% |
| Volume profile rejection | 92 | 34% | 65% | 1% |
| Piercing line | 21 | 33% | 67% | 0% |
| Bollinger breakout up | 31 | 32% | 61% | 6% |
| RSI overbought drop | 136 | 32% | 68% | 0% |
| Fibonacci bounce down | 50 | 30% | 66% | 4% |
Neutral patterns
| Pattern | Found | Broke up | Broke down | Stayed inside |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Inside bar | 466 | 55% | 45% | 0% |
| Doji | 126 | 52% | 48% | 0% |
| Spinning top | 175 | 47% | 49% | 4% |
Counted by the Trading Class research engine on real past candles: entry at the signal candle's close, target 1.5 × ATR(14), stop 1 × ATR(14), 12 candles to decide, a candle that touches both counts as the stop. How we count. Past data, not a forecast and not advice.
Learn to read S&P 500 charts
- United States: stocks, ETFs and extended hoursUS stocks trade mainly from 9:30 to 4:00 New York time, with thinner trading before and after.
- What one candle tells youEvery candle shows four prices: where it started, its highest, its lowest and where it finished.
- Bodies and wicks: the tug of warA big body means one side won; a long wick means a push that got pushed back.
- The hammerA hammer after a fall shows sellers pushed hard but buyers pushed the price back up.
- Rule one: stay in the gameLose half your money and you must double what is left just to get back to the start.
- The stop-loss: decide your exit firstA stop-loss is the price where your idea is wrong, and you choose it before you enter.
More US stock market charts
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Questions
Which pattern worked best on S&P 500?
In our count the inverted hammer reached its target first most often on S&P 500: 52% of 21 cases. No pattern works every time; past odds are not a forecast.
Which candlestick pattern works best on S&P 500?
The inverted hammer: target first 52% of 21 times on S&P 500.
How were these numbers counted?
Every case enters at the signal candle's close with a target 1.5 × ATR(14) away and a stop 1 × ATR(14) away, and gets 12 candles to reach one of them. Only clean stretches of real sessions are used.