Evening Star Candlestick Pattern: The Candles at Netflix's 2021 Record High and Tesla's 2024 Top

On November 17, 2021, Netflix set a record high of 70.10. The next day completed an evening star at that top. Sold at that close with a stop above the pattern's high, the trade risked 2.8%. By May 11, 2022 the stock was down 75.6%.

On December 18, 2024, Tesla completed one at the top of its post-election rally: its third day set a record high of 488.54, then reversed. The risk was 11.0%. By March 10, 2025 the stock was down 49.5%.

Netflix's high held for 690 sessions, Tesla's for 248, almost a year. Here is how to read an evening star, where the stop goes, and how to find the next one.

What the fall cost#

An evening star is a sell signal for holders and an entry for short sellers.

Prices are split-adjusted, as on the chart. Netflix has since split 10 for 1, so its prices here are a tenth of what traded at the time.

The evening star in one table#

An evening star is three daily candles: a long green day, a small star at or above its close, then a red day that closes below the middle of the green day's body. Buyers ran the first day, the second day stalled, and sellers took back more than half of the first day on the third.

These are the rules the VCP Scanner terminal uses to name an evening star on a daily chart.

The star's colour does not matter. Both stars below were green, and a red one counts the same. When the star is a doji, the pattern is also an evening doji star.

The position rule matters most. An evening star comes after a rally. The mirror image at the bottom of a decline is a morning star.

Evening star and its look-alikes#

The abandoned baby is the rarer, stricter star: its doji gaps above the first day's high, and the third day gaps back below the doji's low. With two days instead of three, and the red body covering the green one, the pattern is a bearish engulfing.

Example 1: Netflix (NFLX) at its 2021 record high, Nov 18, 2021#

Open NFLX in the VCP Scanner terminal →

What followed:

• Next session (Nov 19): closed at 67.88, −0.5%.
• Two sessions later (Nov 22): 65.92, the first close below the pattern's low of 67.69.
• Ten sessions later (Dec 3): 60.21, −11.7%.
• Jan 26, 2022: 35.97, −47.3%.
• May 11, 2022: 16.64, −75.6%. That is 27.1 times the 1.90 risked on each share.
• The high of 70.10 held for 690 sessions, until Aug 20, 2024.

Two earnings gaps did about two-fifths of the fall: Netflix opened 21.2% lower on Jan 21, 2022 and 29.7% lower on Apr 20, 2022, each the session after an earnings report.

With $500 at risk, the stop sized a short at 263 shares, about $17,937. At the May 11, 2022 close the short was up $13,560.

Example 2: Tesla (TSLA) at its 2024 record high, Dec 18, 2024#

Open TSLA in the VCP Scanner terminal →

What followed:

• Next session (Dec 19): closed at 436.17, −0.9%.
• Two sessions later (Dec 20): 421.06, the first close below the pattern's low of 427.01.
• Ten sessions later (Jan 3, 2025): 410.44, −6.7%.
• Twenty sessions later (Jan 21): 424.07, −3.6%. The fall took a month to get going.
• Mar 10, 2025: 222.15, −49.5%. That is 4.5 times the 48.41 risked on each share.
• The high of 488.54 held for 248 sessions, until Dec 16, 2025.

With $500 at risk, the stop sized a short at 10 shares, about $4,401. At the Apr 8, 2025 close, 221.86, the short was up $2,183.

Where an evening star counts: key levels#

An evening star 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 evening stars that close back below one of these:

Netflix's evening star was a prior-high star: its star poked above the Oct 29 high of 69.10 and the pattern closed back below it, so it shows with the default switch. Tesla's set a fresh record with no earlier high to poke, on none of these levels. To see evening stars like that one, turn Only at a key level off.

Both stocks were in Stage 2, Stan Weinstein's advancing stage: the stock trades above a rising 30-week average. An evening star in Stage 2 marks a top inside an uptrend, a place to take profits or tighten a stop as much as a place to short.

How to trade an evening star#

1. Find the high. An evening star comes after a rally. Look for it at a prior high, a failed breakout's pivot, a falling average or a fresh record, like Netflix's in 2021 and Tesla's in 2024.
2. Check the three days. A long green day, a small star at or above its close, and a red day that closes below the green day's midpoint. Netflix's star was 19% of the green body and Tesla's 18%.
3. Choose your entry. Holders sell or tighten their stop at the third day's close, and some short sellers enter there. Others wait for a close below the pattern's low. Netflix and Tesla both gave that close two sessions later.
4. Put the stop above the high. Above the highest of the three highs, usually the star's (Tesla's was day 3'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 Tesla: 500 ÷ (488.54 − 440.13) = 10 shares.

Find evening stars on any chart in VCP Scanner#

• Open a stock in the terminal, for example NFLX or TSLA.
• Open Candles in the chart toolbar and tick Evening star, 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 evening star on the chart.
• The chart jumps to the latest evening star. 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#

• An evening star is three days at the end of a rally: a long green day, a small star, and a red day that gives back more than half of the green one.
• Netflix's marked its 2021 record high and Tesla's its December 2024 top. They risked 2.8% and 11.0%, and the stocks fell 75.6% and 49.6% 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.