# Outside bar pattern

> An outside bar is a session whose range contains the whole of the previous bar's — a higher high and a lower low in one day, meaning both sides' levels were broken and the close is the verdict.

Canonical: https://patternsradar.com/learn/outside-bar

The geometry is engulfment of the full range: today traded above yesterday's high and below yesterday's low in the same session. Both boundaries the previous bar established were violated — stops above were run, stops below were run, and everyone positioned off yesterday's extremes was tested. It is the inside bar's opposite: instead of the argument going quiet, it went everywhere at once. The bar itself is violence without a verdict; the verdict is wherever the session closed.

The close is what the site's bullish-outside-bar scan reads: pattern is outside_bar resolving with a green close, on the logic that a session which printed a lower low and still finished up found real buyers at the bottom — and whoever sold that low is now trapped fuel above. The same bar closing weak tells the mirror story. Volume sharpens either reading, since a range that swallowed the prior day on heavy participation means both sides were tested with size present.

Outside bars are inherently ambiguous — a session that broke both extremes gave ammunition to both narratives, and the close, while the best single summary, is one print at the end of a chaotic day. Follow-through the next session confirms or retires the verdict more often than the bar itself decides anything. The hit-rate replay on the scan page puts the close-based reading on trial: replay past outside bars and see how often the day's verdict held.

## In Sift

Written as `pattern is outside_bar`. A working scan — outside bars swallowing the prior session on above-average volume:

```sift
where pattern is outside_bar and rel_volume > 1.2
```

1 of the 500 most-traded NSE stocks match today, as of 2026-08-21.

## Scans that use it

- [Bullish outside bar](https://patternsradar.com/screener/bullish-outside-bar.md): A range that swallowed yesterday's entirely and resolved upward.

## Common questions

### What does an outside bar mean?

That one session overwhelmed the previous one in both directions — a higher high and a lower low in the same day. Both sides' stops were run and both arguments were tested; the bar itself is neutral, and the close is read as the session's verdict on which side absorbed the other. Follow-through the next day carries most of the confirmation.

### Is an outside bar the same as an engulfing candle?

No, though they rhyme. An engulfing pattern compares bodies — open-to-close ranges — and requires opposite colours across the two bars. An outside bar compares full ranges: today's high above and low below yesterday's, wicks included, any colour. An outside bar can contain an engulfing pattern, but a wide-ranging day can qualify as one without the other.