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Candles & chart patterns · daily rule · Financials

Engulfing Switch on Power Corporation of Canada

What the play says

Out since Sep 22, 2026at C$93.13POW since then −2.9%

Latest reading: Pattern 0.00

Next move

No single daily close can flip this call, not even one as low as C$22.61 or as high as C$361.68. It needs an engulfing candle after a decline (to buy) or after a rise (to sell).

Next check: the Oct 14, 2026 close

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

POW with the play, last two years

POWPlay 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 2005

Engulfing SwitchBuy & hold

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

The record

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

Play, since 2005Hold, since 2005Play, 5 yrsHold, 5 yrs
Annual return+3.8%+9.9%+12.1%+22.6%
Total return+126%+680%+76%+176%
Worst drawdown−48.5%−62.4%−16.4%−26.1%
Volatility16.1%24.7%12.7%17.7%
Sharpe ratio0.200.440.661.03
Time invested41%100%
Switches per year6.60

Every call, graded

Right on 71 of 144 closed calls (49%). In calls averaged +1.2%; out calls saw POW move +2.4% on average.

CalledCallPriceUntilPOW movedResult
Sep 22, 2026OUTC$93.13now−2.9%open
Aug 24, 2026INC$91.04Sep 22, 2026+2.3%✓ right
Jun 8, 2026OUTC$81.76Aug 24, 2026+11.4%✕ wrong
Jan 5, 2026INC$71.71Jun 8, 2026+14.0%✓ right
Nov 18, 2025OUTC$66.06Jan 5, 2026+8.5%✕ wrong
Sep 9, 2025INC$55.79Nov 18, 2025+18.4%✓ right
May 26, 2025OUTC$47.87Sep 9, 2025+16.5%✕ wrong
May 15, 2025INC$47.21May 26, 2025+1.4%✓ right
Feb 10, 2025OUTC$43.92May 15, 2025+7.5%✕ wrong
Jan 24, 2025INC$40.50Feb 10, 2025+8.4%✓ right
Jan 2, 2025OUTC$41.20Jan 24, 2025−1.7%✓ right
Oct 23, 2024INC$40.92Jan 2, 2025+0.7%✓ 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 145 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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