Tweezer Bottom Candlestick Pattern: The Candles at Eli Lilly's 2025 Low and TSMC's 2023 Low

On August 11, 2025, two sessions after Eli Lilly fell 14.1% on disappointing trial results for its weight-loss pill, the stock completed a tweezer bottom at its lowest price since January 2024. Bought at that close with a stop under its low, the trade risked 1.8%. By November 25 the stock was up 74.7%.

On September 27, 2023, TSMC printed one at its lowest since May 2023, with two lows 8 cents apart. The risk was 1.7%. By March 7, 2024 the stock was up 74.6%.

Neither low has broken since. On Nov 3, 2026 Lilly closed 121.9% above its tweezer's close and TSMC 373.8% above. Here is how to read a tweezer bottom, where the stop goes, and how to find the next one.

What $10,000 became#

Prices are split-adjusted, as on the chart.

The tweezer bottom in one table#

A tweezer bottom is two daily candles: a red day, then a green day that stops at the same low and closes higher. Sellers pushed the price down on the first day. On the second they tried again, stopped at the same price, and buyers took the close. The two matching lows look like the tips of a pair of tweezers.

These are the rules the VCP Scanner terminal uses to name a tweezer bottom on a daily chart.

Only the lows are ruled. The bodies can be any size, so a tweezer bottom is often another pattern too. When day 2's body covers day 1's, the pair can also be a bullish engulfing. When it sits inside day 1's, it can also be a bullish harami. Those two names have body-size rules of their own, so not every such pair qualifies. Lilly's was also a harami. TSMC's was a tweezer bottom and nothing else.

Close enough is relative. TSMC's lows were 8 cents apart on an $85 stock. Lilly's were 2.12 apart on a $635 stock, still inside a tenth of its ATR.

The position rule matters most. A tweezer bottom comes after a decline. After a rally, the mirror image (a green day, then a red day with the same high) is a tweezer top.

Tweezer bottom and its look-alikes#

The engulfing, the piercing line and the harami are named by their bodies. Any of them whose two lows match is a tweezer bottom as well.

Example 1: Eli Lilly (LLY) after its August 2025 drop, Aug 11, 2025#

Open LLY in the VCP Scanner terminal →

What followed:

• Next session (Aug 12): closed at 639.43, +0.7%. Its low of 629.40 is the lowest Lilly has traded since.
• Two sessions later (Aug 13): 660.49, the first close above the pattern's high of 656.18.
• Ten sessions later (Aug 25): 695.33, +9.5%.
• Nov 4: 906.86, +42.8%.
• Nov 25: 1,109.94, +74.7%, a record. That is 41.5 times the 11.44 risked on each share. Two sessions earlier, on Nov 21, Lilly had become the first drugmaker worth $1 trillion.
• The low of 623.78 was never broken. On Nov 3, 2026 Lilly closed at 1,409.38, 121.9% above the tweezer's close.

The run had no gap of 5% or more.

With $500 at risk, the stop sized the trade at 43 shares, about $27,314. At the Nov 25, 2025 close those shares were up $20,413.

Example 2: TSMC (TSM) at its 2023 low, Sep 27, 2023#

Open TSM in the VCP Scanner terminal →

What followed:

• Next session (Sep 28): closed at 86.41, +1.1%, the first close above the pattern's high of 85.56.
• Ten sessions later (Oct 11): 92.00, +7.7%.
• Oct 31: a retest. TSMC traded down to 84.95, 93 cents above the stop, and held. Nothing lower has traded since.
• Dec 19: 103.87, +21.6%.
• Mar 7, 2024: 149.20, +74.6%, a record. That is 44.9 times the 1.42 risked on each share.
• The low of 84.02 was never broken. On Nov 3, 2026 TSMC closed at 404.80, 373.8% above the tweezer's close.

An eighth of the run was one gap: TSMC opened 8.0% higher on Jan 18, 2024, the day of its earnings report.

With $500 at risk, the stop sized the trade at 352 shares, about $30,075. At the Mar 7, 2024 close those shares were up $22,444.

Where a tweezer bottom counts: key levels#

A tweezer bottom 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 tweezer bottoms that close back above one of these:

Lilly's and TSMC's came at fresh multi-month lows, on none of these levels. To see tweezer bottoms like these, turn Only at a key level off.

Both stocks were in Stage 4, Stan Weinstein's declining stage: the stock trades below a falling 30-week average. These tweezer bottoms marked the end of a downtrend, not a pullback inside an uptrend.

How to trade a tweezer bottom#

1. Find the low. A tweezer bottom comes after a decline. Look for it at a prior low, a rising average or a fresh multi-month low, like Lilly's in August 2025 and TSMC's in September 2023.
2. Check the lows. A red day, then a green day that stops at the same price. TSMC's lows were 8 cents apart and Lilly's 2.12. The terminal allows a tenth of the 14-day ATR.
3. Choose your entry. Some traders buy day 2's close. Others wait for a close above the pattern's high. TSMC gave that close the next session and Lilly two sessions later.
4. Put the stop under the low. Under the lower of the two lows (day 1's in both examples), 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 TSMC: 500 ÷ (85.44 − 84.02) = 352 shares.

Find tweezer bottoms on any chart in VCP Scanner#

• Open a stock in the terminal, for example LLY or TSM.
• Open Candles in the chart toolbar and tick Tweezer bottom, or use the Reversals quick pick for every classic reversal candle.
• Only at a key level is on by default. Turn it off to see every tweezer bottom on the chart.
• The chart jumps to the latest tweezer bottom. A dot marks each one under its low, 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 tweezer bottom is a red day and a green day that stop at the same low: sellers tried the price twice and could not break it.
• Lilly's marked its August 2025 low and TSMC's its September 2023 low. They risked 1.8% and 1.7%, and the stocks rose 74.7% and 74.6% within 120 sessions.
• 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.