What Is a Marubozu Candle in Forex? Meaning, Types and How Traders Use It

Short answer: A marubozu is a candle with a full body and little or no wick. A bullish marubozu opens near its low and closes near its high; a bearish marubozu does the reverse. It shows that one side controlled the whole period. It is a description, not a forecast, so a stop loss still matters.

Bullish marubozu (left) and bearish marubozu (right). Illustration, November 2026.

What a marubozu looks like

Feature	Bullish marubozu	Bearish marubozu
Body	Long, close above open	Long, close below open
Upper wick	None or tiny	None or tiny
Lower wick	None or tiny	None or tiny
Open	At or near the low	At or near the high
Close	At or near the high	At or near the low
What it shows	Buyers led from start to end	Sellers led from start to end

Charts rarely show a perfect one with zero wicks. The forex market trades around the clock, and a candle usually opens at the previous close, so some small wick is normal. Many traders accept wicks under a set share of the candle range, for example 5% to 10%. Pick a tolerance and write it into your rules so you apply it the same way each time.

Some books distinguish a “closing” marubozu (no wick on the close side only) and an “opening” marubozu (none on the open side). Definitions differ between books and charting platforms.

How to read it

The candle says that price moved in one direction through the whole period without being pushed back. That points to strong one-sided pressure. Compare it with the doji, which shows indecision, and the pin bar, whose long wick shows rejection. A marubozu has neither.

Its meaning depends on where it appears:

• Inside a trend, a marubozu in the trend direction suggests the move is still active. See trend trading basics.
• At a breakout, a marubozu that closes beyond a level can show strong follow-through. See breakouts and fakeouts.
• After a long move, a large marubozu can mark exhaustion, especially at support or resistance.
• From news, one release can create a marubozu by itself. See price spikes.

Reading a marubozu as only bullish or only bearish is a common mistake. It tells you who controlled one period and nothing else. The next candle can retrace half of it.

A worked example

Made-up prices on EUR/USD, to show the arithmetic. It is not a real trade.

• Price pulls back to a support level at 1.0800 and then a bullish 1-hour marubozu opens at 1.0810 and closes at 1.0870, with no wicks. The body is 60 pips.
• Entry idea: buy a pullback to the middle of the candle, 1.0840.
• Stop loss: below the open of the marubozu, at 1.0800, which is 40 pips from the entry. A move through the open cancels the control the candle showed.
• Target idea: previous high at 1.0940, 100 pips away. The reward-to-risk ratio is 2.5 to 1.

With a $1,000 account and a 1% risk rule ($10), a 40-pip stop gives about 0.025 lot, which is about $0.25 per pip. The lot size calculator shows the formula.

Buying at the close of the marubozu at 1.0870 would put the same stop 70 pips away, which needs a smaller position. Large candles push the entry far from the invalidation point, and that is the cost of using them.

Where it misleads

• Entry after a large candle. The move has already happened. A wide stop and a poor ratio are common.
• Exhaustion. After a long run, a large marubozu may be the last push.
• News. A data candle can reverse within minutes. Check the economic calendar.
• Low liquidity. A marubozu in thin trading, such as at the end of the day, can come from wide quotes rather than real demand. See liquidity.
• Time frame. A marubozu on a 1-minute chart means much less than one on the daily chart.

How to use it in a plan

1. Define the tolerance for wicks and the minimum body size, for example relative to the average true range.
2. Check where the candle sits: trend, level or breakout.
3. Decide the entry in advance. Waiting for a pullback usually improves the stop distance.
4. Set the stop beyond the candle’s open or the nearest swing point, and compute the lot size from that distance.
5. Skip the trade if the ratio to the next level is poor.
6. Write the result in your trading journal.

Practice before real money

Mark every marubozu on one chart over the last few months and note what the next three candles did. Count the continuations and the reversals. A demo account lets you try entries without risk. Your own count on your own pair and time frame is worth more than a general claim.

Bottom line

A marubozu is a clean, wickless candle that shows one side held control for the whole period. It is useful as a marker of strength, a breakout or exhaustion, but only with context. The size of the candle often pushes the stop far from a sensible entry, so work out the reward-to-risk ratio first and size the trade from the stop. Only risk money you can afford to lose. CFDs are complex, high-risk instruments.