đ What is an engulfing candle?
$ETH printed two bearish engulfing candles in the last week, and both came before a drop. The first one marked the Oct 2 top near $2,777. The second one broke the range floor on Oct 7.
An engulfing pattern uses two candles. The second candle's body (open to close) is bigger than the first one's and fully covers it. It shows that one side took full control in a single candle. Bullish engulfing = a green body swallows a red one after a drop. Bearish engulfing = a red body swallows a green one after a rise.
đ Live chart in the cover and in the image post below.
đ How to spot it
âą Find the trend first. A bullish engulfing needs a drop before it. A bearish engulfing needs a rise before it
âą Candle 1 is small and goes with the trend (red in a drop, green in a rise)
âą Candle 2 opens near candle 1's close and closes past candle 1's open
âą Compare bodies only, not wicks. Body 2 must cover all of body 1
âą The bigger candle 2 is versus candle 1, and the higher its volume, the stronger the signal
đ How traders use it
âą Entry: after candle 2 closes, or on a small pullback into candle 2's body on the next candle
âą Stop-loss: past the wick of candle 2. Below its low for bullish, above its high for bearish
âą Target: the next support or resistance level, or at least 2x the risk
âą Best spots: at a key level (range top, range floor, old high or low), not in the middle of nowhere
đ§Ș Live example: $ETH, Oct 2 â Oct 9, 2026
Bearish engulfing #1 (daily, Oct 2):
âą Oct 1 was green: $2,686 â $2,706
âą Oct 2 spiked to $2,777, then closed red at $2,669. Its body covered all of Oct 1's body
âą Volume was 1.6x the day before, right at the top of the range
âą ETH never closed above that high again
Bearish engulfing #2 (4H, Oct 7, 00:00 UTC):
âą The 4H candle before it was a small green: $2,692 â $2,697
âą Then one red 4H body: $2,697 â $2,611, about -3.2%
âą Volume was 6.4x the candle before. It broke the ~$2,635 range floor
âą ETH kept falling to $2,406 on Oct 8, about 13% under the Oct 2 high
The bullish engulfing that didn't happen (4H, Oct 8):
âą The red 4H candle into the low went $2,537 â $2,436
âą The next candle bounced green, but only to $2,465
âą That green body covered about 28% of the red one. Not an engulfing, so no reversal signal yet
A bullish one on $BTC (daily, Oct 1):
âą Sep 30 closed slightly red. Oct 1 opened $83,624 and closed $84,880, covering it
âą The next day BTC tagged $87,220, then got rejected. A signal gives a move, not a guarantee
Where ETH is now:
âą Price about $2,483
âą 4H RSI(14) 30.9, close to oversold
âą 4H 20 EMA ~$2,548 and 50 EMA ~$2,611, both above price and falling
âą A 4H bullish engulfing at or above $2,406 would be the first real buyer signal. A close under $2,406 keeps the trend down
â ïž Common mistakes
âą Trading it without a trend before it. In a sideways chop, engulfing candles show up all the time and mean little
âą Counting wicks instead of bodies. The rule is about bodies
âą Ignoring volume. An engulfing on weak volume often fails
âą Acting before the candle closes. A big green candle can turn red in the last minutes
â Quick checklist
âą Is there a clear trend before it?
âą Does body 2 fully cover body 1?
âą Is it at a key support or resistance level?
âą Is volume higher than on candle 1?
âą Is the stop past the wick, sized to 1-2% risk?
đŹ Do you trade engulfing candles on the 4H or the daily? đ
Not financial advice. DYOR.