Morning Doji Star Candlestick Pattern: The Three Candles Before Alphabet's 2025 Run and ServiceNow's Rebound After SVB

On August 4, 2025, the Monday after a weak jobs report and new tariffs sank the market, Alphabet completed a morning doji star at its rising 21-day average. Bought at that close with a stop under the pattern's low, the trade risked 3.7%. By January 13, 2026, the day after Alphabet first reached a $4 trillion market value, the stock was up 72.3%.

On March 14, 2023, in the week after regulators closed Silicon Valley Bank, ServiceNow completed one at a prior low. The risk was 4.5%. By July 19 the stock was up 42.1%, without a single gap of 5% or more.

Neither stock has traded below its pattern's low since. Here is how to read a morning doji star, where the stop goes, and how to find the next one.

What $10,000 became#

Prices are split-adjusted, as on the chart.

The morning doji star in one table#

A morning doji star is three daily candles: a long red day, a doji at or below its close, then a green day that closes above the middle of the red day's body. Sellers ran the first day, the second day ended where it opened, and buyers took back more than half of the first day on the third.

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

The doji's colour does not matter. The two dojis below closed 10 and 40 cents above their opens.

The position rule matters most. A morning doji star comes after a decline. The same three days at the top of a rally, upside down, are an evening doji star.

Morning doji star and its look-alikes#

Every morning doji star is also a morning star, and the terminal shows it by the stricter name. SoFi's December 2022 low in that article was one too. The abandoned baby is stricter again: its doji gaps below day 1's low, and day 3 gaps back above the doji's high. When the doji sits inside the first day's body instead of below it, the two days are a harami cross, the doji case of the bullish harami.

Example 1: Alphabet (GOOGL) at its 21-day average, Aug 4, 2025#

Open GOOGL in the VCP Scanner terminal →

The doji was Aug 1, the day a weak July jobs report and new tariff rates sent the Nasdaq down 2.2%. Alphabet's whole range that day sat below day 1's low of 191.09. On Aug 4 the market had its best day since May, and Alphabet's day 3 opened 17 cents above its low and closed 23 cents under its high, which also makes it a bullish marubozu. Its close was 5.5% under Alphabet's Feb 4, 2025 record close of 206.38.

What followed:

• Next session (Aug 5): closed at 194.67, −0.2%.
• Two sessions later (Aug 6): 196.09, the first close above the pattern's high of 195.99.
• Ten sessions later (Aug 18): 203.50, +4.3%.
• Aug 25: 208.49, its first close above the February record.
• Sep 3: opened 7.0% higher after a judge ruled that Google could keep Chrome, and closed at 230.66.
• Oct 27: 269.27, +38.1%.
• Jan 13, 2026: 335.97, +72.3%, the day after Alphabet first reached a $4 trillion market value. That is 19.5 times the 7.22 risked on each share.
• The low of 187.82 was never broken. Alphabet's lowest price since that day is 193.67, on Aug 6, 2025. On Nov 3, 2026 it closed at 280.03, 43.6% above the pattern's close.

The Sep 3 gap was a fifth of the 60-session rise. With the Oct 30 gap, after Alphabet reported its first $100 billion quarter, the two gaps were 23% of the 120-session rise.

With $500 at risk, the stop sized the trade at 69 shares, about $13,458. At the Jan 13, 2026 close those shares were up $9,724.

Example 2: ServiceNow (NOW) in the week SVB failed, Mar 14, 2023#

Open NOW in the VCP Scanner terminal →

Day 1 was Friday, Mar 10, the day regulators closed Silicon Valley Bank. The doji was Monday, Mar 13, when regional bank stocks crashed despite the weekend's deposit backstop: First Republic fell 62%. On Mar 14 inflation data came in as expected and stocks rebounded. ServiceNow's low of 81.07 was its lowest since January, and its close stood 39.5% under its Nov 2021 record close of 140.35.

Day 3 was small, a 0.35 body. What counts is where it closed: 60 cents above day 1's midpoint and back above the February low. ServiceNow has since split 5 for 1 (December 2025), so the chart's 84.91 was about $425 on the day.

What followed:

• Next session (Mar 15): closed at 84.45, −0.5%.
• Two sessions later (Mar 16): 88.48, the first close above the pattern's high of 85.85.
• Ten sessions later (Mar 28): 85.82, +1.1%.
• Jun 5: 111.34, +31.1%.
• Jul 19: 120.65, +42.1%. That is 9.3 times the 3.84 risked on each share. There was no gap of 5% or more along the way.
• Dec 11, 2023: 141.02, its first close above the 2021 record.
• The low of 81.07 was never broken. The closest ServiceNow came was 81.24 on Apr 10, 2026, three years later and 17 cents above the stop. On Nov 3, 2026 it closed at 109.16, 28.6% above the pattern's close.

With $500 at risk, the stop sized the trade at 130 shares, about $11,038. At the Jul 19, 2023 close those shares were up $4,646.

Where a morning doji star counts: key levels#

A morning doji star on a level is a test of that level. In the terminal, the Only at a key level switch is on by default and keeps the ones that close back above one of these:

Alphabet's was a 21-day EMA morning doji star: the doji came within 21 cents of the rising average, and the pattern closed well above it. ServiceNow's was a prior-low one: the doji undercut the Feb 24 low and day 3 closed back above it. Both show with the default switch on. Turn Only at a key level off to see the ones at no level.

Stage 2 is Stan Weinstein's advancing stage: the stock trades above a rising 30-week average. Alphabet was in Stage 2. ServiceNow was in Stage 1, a base after its 2022 decline.

How to trade a morning doji star#

1. Find the low. A morning doji star comes after a decline. Look for it at a prior low or a rising average, like ServiceNow's at its February low and Alphabet's at its 21-day EMA.
2. Check the three days. A long red day, a doji at or below its close, and a green day that closes above the red day's midpoint. Alphabet's doji had a 0.10 body on a 3.01 range. ServiceNow's had 0.40 on 4.12.
3. Choose your entry. Some traders buy the third day's close. Others wait for a close above the pattern's high. Alphabet and ServiceNow each gave that close two sessions later.
4. Put the stop under the low. Under the lowest of the three lows, usually the doji's, or under the lowest low of the test if price went lower earlier in it. The terminal calls this "the low, test included".
5. Size from the stop. Shares = money at risk ÷ (entry − stop). With $500 at risk on ServiceNow: 500 ÷ (84.91 − 81.07) = 130 shares.

Find morning doji stars on any chart in VCP Scanner#

• Open a stock in the terminal, for example GOOGL or NOW.
• Open Candles in the chart toolbar and tick Morning doji star, or use the Bullish quick pick for every bullish name.
• Only at a key level is on by default. Turn it off to see every morning doji star on the chart.
• The chart jumps to the latest morning doji star. A dot marks each one under its low, and the selected one shows its stop on the price scale.
• The inspector lists the dates, 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 morning doji star is three days at the end of a decline: a long red day, a doji below it, and a green day that takes back more than half of the red one.
• Alphabet's came at its 21-day average before its run to a $4 trillion value, and ServiceNow's at its February low in the week SVB failed. They risked 3.7% and 4.5%, and the stocks rose 72.3% and 42.1% within six months.
• The pattern's low 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.