Engulfing patterns

Japanese candlesticks · Beginner → Intermediate · 7 min read

You will learn to

The body-over-body rule
What makes one stronger
The honest test result

The shape

Two candles. The second body completely covers ("engulfs") the first body and is the opposite colour.

Bullish engulfing after a decline: the period opened with sellers in control, buyers overwhelmed them and closed above where the previous candle opened. Bearish engulfing after a rally is the mirror.

Stronger versions

The second body is much larger than the first (it engulfs several candles, even better).
It also engulfs the first candle's wicks.
The first candle is small — a sign the prior move was already slowing.
It forms at a level, on higher volume.

Failure

A bullish engulfing fails when price closes below its low. Because the pattern is big, the stop beyond it is often wide — check the reward is still worth it.

What our backtest found

Bullish / bearish engulfing as entries: no edge on 15M–4H; bearish engulfing on 15M lost −0.45R per trade. The most famous candle pattern is not a strategy on its own.

Check yourself

1. What has to be true for a bullish engulfing?

The second green body covers the first red body ✓
Two green candles
A gap down

Body over body, opposite colour.

2. Which detail makes an engulfing stronger?

It engulfs several prior candles ✓
The second candle is small
It forms mid-range

A bigger takeover shows more force.

Terms in this lesson

Engulfing: A second body that covers the first, in the opposite colour.

Practise it on real charts. In the app, this lesson comes with real examples (reveal what happened next), a graded drill and the track test. Open the Academy in NexusCore — free →