What is the bullish engulfing pattern?
The bullish engulfing is a bullish candlestick pattern. A green body completely engulfs the previous red body after a decline. Buyers overwhelmed the sellers in one session.
How does the bullish engulfing form?
Price has been falling. A red bar closes, then the next bar opens at or below that close and rallies far enough to close above the previous bar's open. Its body swallows the one before it.
How do you confirm a bullish engulfing?
The engulfing must happen on the bodies, not the wicks. A bar with a long lower shadow but a small body has not engulfed anything; it has only been volatile.
When does the bullish engulfing fail?
It fails most often when it appears mid-range rather than after a real decline. With no sellers to overwhelm, there is nothing for the bar to reverse.
No chart pattern works every time. The examples on this page were chosen because they show the pattern clearly, and in real markets patterns fail often.
Practice on real charts
3 real examples of the bullish engulfing, cut off where the pattern completed. Make your call, then see what happened.
The shaded area is a bullish engulfing. Where did price go next?
