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Candles & chart patterns · daily rule · Energy & power

Engulfing Switch on Cenovus Energy

What the play says

In since Aug 26, 2026at C$43.46CVE since then +6.9%

Latest reading: Pattern 0.00

Next move

No single daily close can flip this call, not even one as low as C$11.62 or as high as C$185.92. It needs an engulfing candle after a decline (to buy) or after a rise (to sell).

Next check: the Oct 15, 2026 close

See every reason, for and against, in the Theory tester

CVE with the play, last two years

CVEPlay inPlay out

Shading shows the play's call from the close that triggered it.

Engulfing patterns (+1 bullish, −1 bearish)

Pattern

Dashed line at 0.

Growth of C$10,000 since 2009

Engulfing SwitchBuy & hold

Log scale. After trading costs, with T-bill interest while out.

The record

The play against buying and holding CVE over exactly the same dates, after costs.

Play, since 2009Hold, since 2009Play, 5 yrsHold, 5 yrs
Annual return+1.0%+5.2%+9.3%+29.6%
Total return+18%+136%+55%+264%
Worst drawdown−66.4%−92.8%−32.2%−47.2%
Volatility21.7%41.8%19.2%37.6%
Sharpe ratio0.090.310.360.78
Time invested36%100%
Switches per year6.00

Every call, graded

Right on 49 of 101 closed calls (49%). In calls averaged +0.5%; out calls saw CVE move +3.8% on average.

CalledCallPriceUntilCVE movedResult
Aug 26, 2026INC$43.46now+6.9%open
Aug 19, 2026OUTC$44.62Aug 26, 2026−2.6%✓ right
Jul 30, 2026INC$42.28Aug 19, 2026+5.5%✓ right
Dec 31, 2025OUTC$22.84Jul 30, 2026+85.1%✕ wrong
Dec 12, 2025INC$24.22Dec 31, 2025−5.7%✕ wrong
Aug 6, 2025OUTC$19.72Dec 12, 2025+22.8%✕ wrong
Jul 22, 2025INC$18.82Aug 6, 2025+4.8%✓ right
Jun 18, 2025OUTC$19.38Jul 22, 2025−2.9%✓ right
Apr 2, 2025INC$19.25Jun 18, 2025+0.7%✓ right
Feb 14, 2025OUTC$20.56Apr 2, 2025−6.3%✓ right
Jan 17, 2025INC$20.64Feb 14, 2025−0.4%✕ wrong
Nov 11, 2024OUTC$20.97Jan 17, 2025−1.6%✓ right

An in call is right when the price rose before the next call; an out call is right when it fell. The latest 12 of 102 calls shown.

How the play works

  1. Bullish engulfing: after a decline, a down day (close below open) is followed by an up day that opens at or below the prior close and closes at or above the prior open.
  2. Bearish engulfing: after a rise, an up day is followed by a down day that opens at or above the prior close and closes at or below the prior open.
  3. In at the close of a bullish engulfing day. Out at the close of a bearish engulfing day. Otherwise the rule keeps its last call.

A decline (or rise) means the prior close is below (or above) the close 5 sessions before it. Nison and Bulkowski require a prior trend but give no number.

Nison weighs support, resistance and confirmation, which a mechanical rule cannot judge. No confirmation day is required here.

Shadows are ignored, as both Nison and Bulkowski allow. One edge of the new body may equal the old body's edge, as in the TA-Lib pattern library, but not both.

Crypto trades around the clock, so a coin's daily open is just the prior close. For coins the open is taken as the prior close, and the pattern becomes a close beyond the prior day's open.

Where the rules come from

The case against

Valeriy Zakamulin tested moving-average timing on up to 155 years of U.S. stock data and found no statistically significant edge in the second half of that record. The rules earned their keep in a few severe bear markets and lagged buy and hold for long stretches in between.

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