Counterattack Lines (Meeting Lines)

Bullish Counterattack Lines are two long candles of opposite color that close at the same price. After a decline, a long red candle (one that closed below its open) is followed by a session that opens far lower, then rallies into a long green candle (one that closed above its open). It stops exactly at the red candle's close.

The pattern is also called Meeting Lines, because the two closes meet at one price. “Counterattack” describes the second session: sellers attacked at the open, and buyers struck back for the rest of the day.

The mirror, Bearish Counterattack Lines, forms after a rally: a long green candle, then a session that opens far higher and sells off into a long red candle that closes at the green candle's close. This guide teaches the bullish form first and the bearish one as its mirror.

Two sessions. The second opens in sellers' favor, and buyers take over for the rest of the day.

By name, Bullish Counterattack Lines are bullish and Bearish Counterattack Lines are bearish. The idea is that the second session rejected an attempt to push the trend further.

The two candles alone do not settle it. The second candle ended the day no higher than the first. A later close above the shared close confirms the turn: price has finally gained ground on the red candle. A close below the pattern's low, the second session's low, says the decline is back.

There are two ways to measure a day, and this pattern is where they disagree most plainly.

The body measures from the session's open to its close. It answers: who won this session? A long green body says buyers did, by a wide margin.

The net change measures from the previous close to this close. It is the number a quote screen shows, and the only thing a line chart (a chart that joins the closes) draws. It answers: how much ground was gained since yesterday? For the second candle of Counterattack Lines, the answer is zero.

Both are true at once. The rally was real, but it started from an open that sellers set. Every cent of the green body was spent climbing out of the overnight drop. So the second candle took back the overnight drop and none of the red body.

That is what the pattern can and cannot claim. It shows sellers' push to extend the decline was rejected within one session. It does not show buyers winning back anything from the day before. That is why the confirming close matters: it is the first close that does.

Three bullish two-candle patterns start the same way: a long red candle, then a green candle that opens lower. They differ in one thing: how much of the red body the green close takes back.

Read them as a ladder. Counterattack Lines are the bottom rung: the overnight drop is erased, the red body is not. The Piercing Pattern climbs past the middle of the red body, and a Bullish Engulfing clears all of it. If the green candle closes well into the red body, you are no longer looking at Counterattack Lines.

Matching Low: the same close, the opposite day. A Matching Low also ends with two closes at one price, so its second candle also has a net change of zero. But there both candles are red. The second session opened higher and sold off back to the level: sellers won the day. In Counterattack Lines the second session opened lower and rallied back: buyers won the day. Same net change, opposite winner.

On-Neck and In-Neck: short or barely there. In an On-Neck pattern the green close only reaches the red candle's low; in an In-Neck it closes just inside the red body. In both the green candle is usually small, and both are usually read as the decline pausing before it carries on. Counterattack Lines need a long green candle that reaches the red close itself.

The two are mirrors: every rule flips.

In the bearish form, buyers open price far higher and sellers spend the whole session taking it back down to yesterday's close. The red body is long, but the net change is zero: sellers erased the overnight jump and none of the green body. The same reading applies, upside down. The bearish ladder runs from Counterattack Lines to Dark Cloud Cover (a close below the middle of the green body) to a Bearish Engulfing (a close below its open).

The pattern shows a rejected push lower. The trade waits for a gain on yesterday.

The pattern says a push lower was bought back. Context says whether that happened somewhere it matters.

Size of the drop. “Far lower” is relative. A $1 drop at the open is a large move for a stock that usually moves 50 cents a day, and a small one for a stock that usually moves $4. Average True Range (ATR), the average size of a day's move, gives you the yardstick. Read the Candlesticks + ATR guide →

Volume. Heavier volume on the green candle means many shares changed hands while buyers climbed out of the overnight drop, so the rejection had real participation. Read the Candlesticks + Volume guide →

Moving averages. Counterattack Lines that form near a rising 50-day moving average read as a sharp dip inside an uptrend that buyers defended. Under a falling one, treat them as a possible pause until the confirming close. Read the Candlesticks + Moving Averages guide →

Counterattack Lines are a lesson in reading a candle from the right starting point. Measured from its open, the second candle is a big win for buyers. Measured from the day before, it went nowhere.

Both readings matter. The rally shows sellers' push lower was rejected. The flat close shows buyers have not yet gained an inch on yesterday. Mark the shared close, wait for a close above it, and keep the stop below the second candle's low.