Lesson T3.3 · 3 of 6 · Japanese candlesticks
Marubozu and belt hold candlesticks: what big candles show
A marubozu is a candle with a big body and no wicks: the price moved in one direction only, from open to close. A belt hold opens at one extreme of the day and closes near the other, after a trend in the opposite direction. A big body shows strength, but it does not guarantee the move continues.
Terms in this lesson
- Candlestick chart
- The chart that shows the open, close, high and low price for each day.
- Trading volume
- How many shares were bought and sold in a day.
What is a marubozu candlestick
Definition
What is a marubozu?
A candle with a big body and no wicks (or very small ones).
In Japanese, “marubozu” means “close-cropped”: the candle has no “hair”, meaning no wicks. Bullish marubozu: opens at the low and closes at the high. Bearish marubozu: opens at the high and closes at the low. The story: one side dominated all day and the other could not turn the price back even a little.
- Marubozu
The price moves sideways around 100 for 12 days. Then a big rising candle with no wicks climbs from 100.43 to 104.58 on about two and a half times the usual volume; over the following days the price rises towards 109.
Opens at one extreme and closes at the other. The cleanest sign of strength.
Has a wick only at the open. The close is right at the high (or the low).
Has a wick only at the close: the price gave a little back towards the end.
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Create a free accountWhat is a belt hold candlestick
Definition
What is a belt hold?
A big candle that opens at the day’s extreme, against the trend.
Bullish belt hold: after a fall, the price opens right at the day’s low (no lower wick) and climbs to near the high. Bearish belt hold: after a rise, it opens right at the day’s high and drops to near the low. Unlike a marubozu, a belt hold can have a small wick at the close and, above all, location matters: it appears after a trend in the opposite direction.
- Belt hold
The price falls for 20 days, from about 112 to about 101. Then a big rising candle opens right at the day’s low, 100.55, and closes at 104.05, near the high; the price then climbs towards 107.
What a big candle body means
A big body shows that one side moved the price a long way in a single day. But “big” is relative: a $2 move is huge for a share that usually moves 20 cents a day and ordinary for one that moves $3. That is why you compare today’s body with the bodies of the days before.
Example
How do you measure a big body?
Divide today’s body by the average body over the last 22 days.
In his tests, Bulkowski called a candle “tall” when its body was more than twice the average of the previous 22 days, roughly a month of trading. The body runs from the open to the close, without the wicks.
Worked numbers for the exercise below.
Marubozu and belt hold: what the statistics show
Their places in Bulkowski’s overall ranking (out of 103 patterns, 1 = best): the bullish belt hold is 62nd, the bearish one 63rd, the bullish marubozu 71st and the bearish one 57th. In short, the belt hold often turned the price, but the move afterwards was only average compared with other patterns.
Lessons are educational. They are not a recommendation to buy or sell. Investing involves risk and you can lose money. Sources: Thomas N. Bulkowski, thepatternsite.com (white and black marubozu, closing white and closing black marubozu, bullish and bearish belt hold, tall candles), accessed 29 October 2026; meaning of “marubozu”: TradingView. The charts are teaching diagrams, not real prices.