Tweezer Top & Bottom
Two adjacent candles sharing almost the same high (tweezer top) or low (tweezer bottom), marking a rejected level.
Anatomy
A tweezer top is two (or more) candles with matching highs, often one green then one red. A tweezer bottom is two candles with matching lows, often one red then one green. The shared price level — not the bodies — defines the pattern.
Market psychology
Price tested the same level twice and was rejected both times. The matching highs or lows show that buyers (at a top) or sellers (at a bottom) could not push past a price that the other side defended firmly.
When it matters
Most meaningful at a known support or resistance after a trend. A tweezer top after an uptrend at resistance warns of a reversal; a tweezer bottom after a downtrend at support hints at one. Confirmation strengthens both.
Common beginner mistakes
- Requiring the bodies to match — only the highs (top) or lows (bottom) need to align; the bodies can differ in color and size.
- Reading a tweezer mid-range as significant; without a tested level and a prior trend it is just two candles with similar extremes.
Frequently asked questions
Do the two candles in a tweezer need opposite colors?
It is common (and slightly stronger) for the second candle to be the opposite color — a green then red at a top, or red then green at a bottom — but the defining feature is the matching high or low, not the colors.
Why is it called a tweezer?
Because the two matching highs (or lows) look like the two prongs of a pair of tweezers reaching the same level. The shared extreme is the visual and the signal: a price the market tested twice and rejected.
Reveal real historical charts one candle at a time and practice recognizing this pattern in context.