Bearish Harami Pattern: The Candles at Starbucks' 2022 Top and Oracle's June 2026 High

On January 3, 2022, the first trading day of the year, the S&P 500 set a record close that stood for two years. That day Starbucks completed a bearish harami at a prior high. Sold at that close with a stop above its high, the trade risked 1.0%. By May 12 the stock was down 40.1%.

On June 2, 2026, after a 29.9% jump in three sessions, Oracle printed one. The risk was 2.3%. By July 24 the stock was down 53.0%.

Neither stock has traded above its harami's high since. Here is how to read a bearish harami, where the stop goes, and how to find the next one.

What the fall cost#

A bearish harami is a sell signal for holders and an entry for short sellers.

Prices are split-adjusted, as on the chart. Oracle's 120-session window is still open: Nov 3, 2026 was the 107th session after its harami.

The bearish harami in one table#

A bearish harami is two daily candles: a long green day, then a small body that opens and closes inside the green body. Buyers ran the first day. On the second they could not push the price past the first day's close. Harami is Japanese for pregnant: the small body sits inside the big one. It is the bullish harami turned upside down, at a top instead of a bottom.

These are the rules the VCP Scanner terminal uses to name a bearish harami on a daily chart.

Only the bodies have to fit. Day 2's shadows can poke outside: Starbucks' second day traded up to 117.80, above the green day's high of 117.48, and down to 114.78, under its low of 115.60.

Day 2's colour does not matter. Both second days below were green. Starbucks' was so small it was a doji, so the terminal also names it a bearish harami cross.

The position rule matters most. A bearish harami comes after a rally. After a decline, the mirror image (a long red day with a small body inside it) is a bullish harami.

Bearish harami and its look-alikes#

The bearish engulfing is the harami turned inside out: there the second body covers the first. Add a red third day that closes below the first day's open, and a harami becomes a three inside down.

Example 1: Starbucks (SBUX) at its 2022 top, Jan 3, 2022#

Open SBUX in the VCP Scanner terminal →

What followed:

• Next session (Jan 4): closed at 114.24, −2.1% and already below the pattern's low of 114.78. Its high that day, 117.05, was the closest Starbucks came to the stop in the next 120 sessions.
• Ten sessions later (Jan 18): 97.73, −16.2%.
• Mar 14: 79.29, −32.0%.
• May 12: 69.90, −40.1%, its lowest close since Apr 7, 2020. That is 41.8 times the 1.12 risked on each share.
• The high of 117.80 has never been retaken. The closest Starbucks came was 117.46, on Mar 3, 2025. On Nov 3, 2026 it closed at 104.77, 10.2% below the harami's close.

The fall came without a big gap down. The only gaps of 5% or more in those 120 sessions were up: +5.9% on Mar 16, 2022 and +6.7% on May 4, 2022. The second was the session after an earnings report.

A 1.0% stop makes a big position: with $500 at risk, the stop sized a short at 446 shares, about $52,039. At the May 12, 2022 close the short was up $20,864.

Example 2: Oracle (ORCL) at its June 2026 high, Jun 2, 2026#

Open ORCL in the VCP Scanner terminal →

What followed:

• Next session (Jun 3): closed at 230.33, −5.8%. Its high that day, 240.51, is the highest Oracle has traded since.
• Three sessions later (Jun 5): 213.68, the first close below the pattern's low of 224.60.
• Ten sessions later (Jun 16): 188.33, −23.0%.
• Jul 1: 142.50, −41.7%.
• Jul 24: 114.99, −53.0%, its lowest close since May 2, 2024. That is 22.9 times the 5.67 risked on each share.
• The high of 250.25 has never been retaken. On Nov 3, 2026 Oracle closed at 126.21, 48.4% below the harami's close.

A sixth of the fall was one gap: Oracle opened 10.7% lower on Jun 11, the session after its Jun 10 earnings report.

This was Oracle's second top in nine months. Its record high came at the bearish engulfing of Sep 10 to 11, 2025; the harami capped the rebound that followed.

With $500 at risk, the stop sized a short at 88 shares, about $21,523. At the Jul 24, 2026 close the short was up $11,404.

Where a bearish harami counts: key levels#

A bearish harami on a level is a test of that level from below. In the terminal, the Only at a key level switch is on by default and keeps the bearish haramis that close back below one of these:

Starbucks' came at a prior high: day 2 traded above the Dec 7, 2021 high of 117.19 and closed back below it, so it shows with the switch on. Oracle's came at no level. To see bearish haramis like it, turn Only at a key level off.

Neither stock was in an uptrend. Starbucks was in Stage 3, Stan Weinstein's topping stage: after an advance, the 30-week average flattens and the stock trades around it. Oracle was in Stage 1, the basing stage that follows a decline. Each harami capped a rebound.

How to trade a bearish harami#

1. Find the high. A bearish harami comes after a rally. Look for it at a prior high, a failed breakout's pivot, a falling average or the top of a sharp rebound, like Starbucks' in January 2022 and Oracle's in June 2026.
2. Check the bodies. A long green body, then a small body inside it. Starbucks' 0.21 body sat inside a 1.30 green one, and Oracle's 1.78 inside 17.65.
3. Choose your entry. Holders sell or tighten their stop at day 2's close, and some short sellers enter there. Others wait for a close below the pattern's low. Starbucks gave that close the next session and Oracle three sessions later.
4. Put the stop above the high. Above the higher of the two highs (Starbucks' was day 2's, Oracle's day 1's), or above the highest high of the test if price went higher earlier in it. The terminal calls this "the high, test included".
5. Size from the stop. Shares = money at risk ÷ (stop − entry). With $500 at risk on Oracle: 500 ÷ (250.25 − 244.58) = 88 shares.

Find bearish haramis on any chart in VCP Scanner#

• Open a stock in the terminal, for example SBUX or ORCL.
• Open Candles in the chart toolbar and tick Bearish harami, or use the Bearish quick pick for every bearish candle on the chart.
• Only at a key level is on by default. Turn it off to see every bearish harami on the chart.
• The chart jumps to the latest bearish harami. A dot marks each one above its high, and the selected one shows its stop on the price scale.
• The inspector lists the close, stop, risk to stop, level, volume and stage. Walk through the others with the ← and → keys.
• Mark the ones you care about with the drawing tools. The arrows in the charts above are the Arrow Marker (Alt+A): click where the arrow starts, then click the candle.

Candles are free, on daily, weekly and monthly charts.

Bottom line#

• A bearish harami is a long green day followed by a small body inside it: the buying stalled, and the second day could not get past the first day's close.
• Starbucks' marked its January 2022 top and Oracle's its June 2026 high. They risked 1.0% and 2.3%, and the stocks fell 40.1% and 53.0% within 120 sessions.
• The pattern's high is the stop. It defines your risk before you take the trade.

Data: VCPScanner daily market data through Nov 3, 2026, split-adjusted. The examples are for education, not recommendations.