Piercing The Piercing candlestick pattern is formed by two candles. Here’s how to identify the Piercing candlestick pattern: The first candle must be bearish The second candle must be bullish The open level of the second candle must be below the first candle (there’s a gap there) The close of the second candle must be above the 50% level of the body of the first candle It looks like this on your charts: