Three White Soldiers and Three Black Crows: How to Read the Candle Patterns and Where They Fail

Short answer: Three white soldiers are three bullish candles in a row, each closing higher than the last. Three black crows are the same shape in reverse, three bearish candles each closing lower. Traders read them as a possible reversal after a fall or a rise. They fail often, so use a stop loss and size the trade from it.

Three white soldiers (left) and three black crows (right). Illustration, October 2026.

What the pattern looks like

Both patterns need three candles in a row. If you are new to reading candles, start with candlestick basics.

Feature	Three white soldiers	Three black crows
Candle colour	Three bullish (close above open)	Three bearish (close below open)
Closes	Each higher than the previous close	Each lower than the previous close
Opens	Inside the previous candle’s body	Inside the previous candle’s body
Where it matters	After a fall, or near support	After a rise, or near resistance
Idea behind it	Buyers took control for three periods	Sellers took control for three periods

Some traders also want small wicks. A long upper wick on a soldier means buyers pushed up and were pushed back, so that candle is a weaker sign. Definitions differ between books and charting platforms, so write down your own rule before you look at a chart.

Why context decides

The pattern is a description of what price just did. It does not forecast. Three rising candles in the middle of an existing rise only show that the rise is continuing, which belongs to trend trading.

The pattern gets attention when it appears:

• after a clear fall, so that three bullish candles show a change of behaviour;
• near a known level, such as support and resistance or a pivot point;
• on a time frame you actually trade, not a few minutes of random movement.

A soldiers pattern that begins right under strong resistance has little room to run. A pattern that has already travelled a long way from the start of the move may be late.

A worked example

This uses made-up prices on EUR/USD to show the arithmetic. It is not a real trade.

• Price falls to 1.0800 and stalls near a support level.
• Three bullish 4-hour candles follow. The first closes at 1.0830, the second at 1.0865 and the third at 1.0895.
• The low of the first soldier is 1.0795.
• Entry idea: buy near 1.0895, after the third candle closes.
• Stop loss: just below the first soldier’s low, at 1.0790. That is 105 pips from entry.
• Target idea: the next resistance at 1.1050 is 155 pips away. The reward-to-risk ratio is about 1.5 to 1.

The stop is wide. With a $1,000 account and a 1% risk rule ($10), 105 pips of stop means about 0.01 lot, which is about $0.10 per pip, or $10.50 at risk. A smaller account might be unable to trade the setup at all under that rule. The lot size calculator shows the formula, and position sizing explains the steps.

This is the usual problem with the pattern. By the time three candles have finished, the stop is already far away, so the reward-to-risk ratio is often poor. Check it first with the risk reward ratio page.

Where the pattern fails

• Exhaustion. Three strong candles can use up a move rather than start one. Price may stall or reverse right after the third candle.
• News-driven candles. One data release can create all three candles. See the economic calendar and price spikes.
• Resistance just above. A level close to the third close leaves little reward for the risk.
• Late entry. A wide stop and a poor ratio, as in the example above.
• Slippage and spread. Entries after fast candles can fill away from the price you saw. See slippage.
• Different definitions. One platform’s pattern scanner may mark a setup that your own rules would reject.

How to use it in a plan

1. Write the rule: what counts as a soldier, how long the wicks may be, which time frame.
2. Check that the pattern sits after a fall (or a rise for crows) and near a level.
3. Decide the entry before the trade, for example a pending order or a market order after the third candle closes.
4. Set the stop beyond the first candle and compute the lot size from the distance.
5. Skip the trade if the ratio to the next level is poor.
6. Record the result in your trading journal.

Practice before real money

Scroll back through a chart on your own pair and mark every three-candle pattern that meets your rule. Count how many reversed, how many stalled, and how many continued against you. A demo account lets you try the entries without risk. See demo accounts. Your own count on your own pair and time frame is more useful than a general claim about success rates.

Bottom line

Three white soldiers and three black crows are simple three-candle patterns that traders use to look for a change of direction. They describe what price has already done, they fail often, and the stop loss usually sits far from the entry. Check the context, work out the reward-to-risk ratio before you enter, and size the trade from the stop. Only risk money you can afford to lose. CFDs are complex, high-risk instruments.