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Candles & chart patterns · daily rule · Energy & power

Engulfing Switch on TC Energy

What the play says

Out since Oct 7, 2026at C$84.00TRP since then +3.7%

Latest reading: Pattern 0.00

Next move

No single daily close can flip this call, not even one as low as C$21.78 or as high as C$348.44. 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

TRP with the play, last two years

TRPPlay 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 TRP over exactly the same dates, after costs.

Play, since 2005Hold, since 2005Play, 5 yrsHold, 5 yrs
Annual return+4.2%+10.4%+10.3%+14.4%
Total return+143%+758%+63%+96%
Worst drawdown−36.3%−36.3%−27.9%−33.8%
Volatility14.9%20.9%12.9%19.6%
Sharpe ratio0.230.490.530.59
Time invested41%100%
Switches per year8.10

Every call, graded

Right on 89 of 177 closed calls (50%). In calls averaged +1.1%; out calls saw TRP move +1.7% on average.

CalledCallPriceUntilTRP movedResult
Oct 7, 2026OUTC$84.00now+3.7%open
Aug 26, 2026INC$86.24Oct 7, 2026−2.6%✕ wrong
Mar 30, 2026OUTC$85.19Aug 26, 2026+1.2%✕ wrong
Mar 23, 2026INC$85.04Mar 30, 2026+0.2%✓ right
Feb 10, 2026OUTC$78.71Mar 23, 2026+8.0%✕ wrong
Jan 22, 2026INC$73.61Feb 10, 2026+6.9%✓ right
Jan 15, 2026OUTC$73.27Jan 22, 2026+0.5%✕ wrong
Jan 13, 2026INC$73.33Jan 15, 2026−0.1%✕ wrong
Aug 8, 2025OUTC$64.50Jan 13, 2026+13.7%✕ wrong
Jun 26, 2025INC$61.29Aug 8, 2025+5.2%✓ right
Mar 25, 2025OUTC$64.58Jun 26, 2025−5.1%✓ right
Nov 29, 2024INC$62.39Mar 25, 2025+3.5%✓ 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 178 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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