Gravestone Doji Candlestick Pattern: The Candles at Qualcomm's 2024 Record High and DocuSign's 2025 Top

On June 18, 2024, the day the first Copilot+ PCs with its Snapdragon X chips went on sale, Qualcomm set a record high and printed a gravestone doji. Sold at that close with a stop above its high, the trade risked 1.6%. By August 7 the stock was down 31.3%.

On September 18, 2025, at the top of a 30.6% rally inside a downtrend, DocuSign printed one. The risk was 1.9%. By February 23, 2026 the stock was down 50.9%.

DocuSign has never traded above its gravestone's high since. Qualcomm stayed under its own for 474 sessions, until May 2026. Here is how to read a gravestone doji, where the stop goes, and how to find the next one.

What the fall cost#

A gravestone doji is a sell signal for holders and an entry for short sellers.

Prices are split-adjusted, as on the chart.

The gravestone doji in one table#

A gravestone doji is one daily candle that opens and closes at almost the same price, near the bottom of the day, with a long upper shadow above. Buyers pushed the stock far up during the session, and sellers took all of it back by the close. It is the dragonfly doji turned upside down.

These are the rules the VCP Scanner terminal uses to name a gravestone doji on a daily chart.

The colour doesn't matter. Qualcomm's closed 27 cents above its open and DocuSign's 2 cents above, and a red one counts the same.

A textbook gravestone closes at its low. The terminal allows a short lower shadow, and both examples here have one: 18% of Qualcomm's range and 19% of DocuSign's. At 15% or less the candle is also a shooting star, and the terminal lists it as a gravestone first.

The position rule matters most. A gravestone comes after a rally. The same shape after a decline is a different candle.

Same shape, different place#

A gravestone is a shooting star whose body has shrunk to almost nothing. After a decline the same shape is an inverted hammer when its lower shadow is 15% of the range or less, and a plain doji otherwise. Turn it upside down and you have a dragonfly doji.

Example 1: Qualcomm (QCOM) at its 2024 record high, Jun 18, 2024#

Open QCOM in the VCP Scanner terminal →

That Tuesday, the first Copilot+ PCs with Qualcomm's Snapdragon X chips went on sale, and Nvidia became the world's most valuable company. Qualcomm opened above the previous session's high, ran to a record and closed 27 cents above where it opened.

What followed:

• Next session (Jun 20, after the Juneteenth holiday): closed at 215.47, down 5.1% and already below the gravestone's low of 226.00.
• Ten sessions later (Jul 3): 203.81, −10.3%.
• Twenty sessions later (Jul 18): 191.46, −15.7%.
• Aug 7: 156.12, −31.3%. That is 20 times the 3.54 risked on each share.
• Nov 20: 154.27, −32.1%, the lowest close within 120 sessions.
• The high of 230.63 held for 474 sessions, almost two years, until May 11, 2026.

Its only 5% gaps came on Jul 31 and Aug 1, one up and one down around its Jul 31 earnings report, and about cancelled out.

Then it did it again. On May 29, 2026, thirteen sessions after taking out the 2024 high, Qualcomm printed another gravestone doji at its next record high, 259.92. It fell 41.2% by Jul 31, 2026, with gaps doing about two-fifths of that fall, and has not traded above 259.92 since.

With $500 at risk, the stop sized a short at 141 shares, about $32,020. At the Nov 20, 2024 close the short was up $10,268.

Example 2: DocuSign (DOCU) at its September 2025 rally top#

Open DOCU in the VCP Scanner terminal →

Even at that high, DocuSign closed 73.0% below its Aug 10, 2021 record of 314.76.

What followed:

• Next session (Sep 19): closed at 84.59, −0.5%, a cent under the gravestone's low of 84.60.
• Sep 23: back up to 86.27, 38 cents under the stop. That is the highest DocuSign has traded since.
• Ten sessions later (Oct 2): 68.10, −19.9%. Most of that came on Sep 30, a 12.2% drop inside one session.
• Nov 20: 64.01, −24.7%, the lowest close within 60 sessions.
• Feb 23, 2026: 41.75, −50.9%. That is 26 times the 1.64 risked on each share.
• The high of 86.65 was never taken out. On Nov 3, 2026 DocuSign closed at 80.36, 5.5% below the gravestone's close.

Two gaps did about a fifth of the fall: Dec 5, 2025 (−9.2%), the session after its Dec 4 earnings report, and Feb 3, 2026 (−5.2%). The dot in early December marks a second gravestone, on Dec 4, the day of that report.

With $500 at risk, the stop sized a short at 304 shares, about $25,843. At the Feb 23, 2026 close the short was up $13,151.

Where a gravestone doji counts: key levels#

A gravestone 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 gravestones that close back below one of these:

Neither gravestone sat on one of these. Qualcomm's set a record, so there was no earlier high to poke, and DocuSign's came at a fresh three-month high. To see gravestones like these, turn Only at a key level off.

Qualcomm was in Stage 2, Stan Weinstein's advancing stage, so its gravestone marked a top inside an uptrend: a place to take profits or tighten a stop as much as a place to short. DocuSign was in Stage 4, the declining stage, so its gravestone ended a rally inside a downtrend.

How to trade a gravestone doji#

1. Find the high. A gravestone comes after a rally. Look for it at a prior high, a failed breakout's pivot, a falling average or a fresh record, like Qualcomm's in 2024.
2. Check the shape. The body is at most a tenth of the range and the upper shadow at least 70% of it. Qualcomm's upper shadow was 76% of its range and DocuSign's 80%.
3. Choose your entry. Holders sell or tighten their stop at the gravestone's close, and some short sellers enter there. Others wait for a close below its low. Qualcomm and DocuSign both gave that close the next session.
4. Put the stop above the high. Above the gravestone's high, or above the highest high of the test if price went higher earlier in it. The terminal calls this "the high, test included". The whole upper shadow sits inside the risk: 1.6% on Qualcomm and 1.9% on DocuSign.
5. Size from the stop. Shares = money at risk ÷ (stop − entry). With $500 at risk on DocuSign: 500 ÷ (86.65 − 85.01) = 304 shares.

Find gravestone dojis on any chart in VCP Scanner#

• Open a stock in the terminal, for example QCOM or DOCU.
• Open Candles in the chart toolbar and tick Gravestone doji, or use the Bearish quick pick for every bearish name.
• Only at a key level is on by default. Turn it off to see every gravestone doji on the chart.
• The chart jumps to the latest gravestone doji. 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 gravestone doji is a doji with a long upper shadow after a rally: buyers pushed the price far up, and sellers took all of it back by the close.
• Qualcomm's marked its 2024 record high and DocuSign's its September 2025 top. They risked 1.6% and 1.9%, and the stocks fell 32.1% and 50.9% within 120 sessions.
• The gravestone'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.