Belt Hold
Also called: bullish belt hold, bearish belt hold, yorikiri
A single long candle that opens at its extreme and runs the other way all session — a bullish belt hold opens on its low, a bearish one on its high.
A bullish belt hold appears in a decline: the session opens at or very near its low and buyers push price up all day to a strong close, leaving a long green body with little or no lower wick. A bearish belt hold appears in an advance: it opens at or near its high and sells off into a long red body with little or no upper wick.
It's a one-candle reversal clue, close kin to the marubozu but with a wick allowed on the closing side. A single bar is easy to undo, so traders look for follow-through the next session and for the candle to sit at a level that already mattered.
How it has actually played out
- Bullish Belt Hold: across 5,266 signals on US stocks in the last 150 days, price was higher a week later 43.1% of the time (-1.5 pts vs. an ordinary session) and higher a month later 42.3% (-0.1 pts).
- Bearish Belt Hold: across 5,565 signals on US stocks in the last 150 days, price was lower a week later 53.8% of the time (-0.7 pts vs. an ordinary session) and lower a month later 57.6% (+0.4 pts).
Measured from the signal-day close, no stops or costs, versus every session of the same stocks over the same window. A base rate, not a prediction.
On StockSetups
StockSetups flags a belt hold when the last bar's body is at least 60% of its range and its opening-side wick is at most 5% (a bar bare on both ends is labelled a marubozu instead). Bullish needs a prior downtrend, bearish a prior uptrend. It shows on the Daily Candlesticks board or as a confirmation on a chart-pattern setup.
Scan for candlestick patterns nightly →Frequently asked
How is a belt hold different from a marubozu?
A marubozu has almost no wick on either end. A belt hold only needs the opening end bare; it can keep a wick on the closing end.
Is a belt hold a reliable reversal on its own?
Treat it as a clue. It shows one session of one-sided pressure; the next session's follow-through and the surrounding chart decide whether the turn holds.
Related terms
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