1992issue C121-3
Constructing signed engulfing and doji detectors
These candlestick constructions are plotted from open, high, low, and close. Separate body-state tests mark an empty-body, a filled-body, or a doji, and a signed-composite marks a bullish-engulfing-line as +1 and a bearish-engulfing-line as -1.
- Plotting a candlestick-body and its shadows requires open, high, low, and close for each bar.
- Separate body-state tests can each plot +1 when an empty-body, a filled-body, or a doji is present.
- A signed-composite plots +1 on a bullish-engulfing-line and -1 on a bearish-engulfing-line.
- Engulfing detections are incomplete directional clues and are not sufficient as a sole trade trigger.
From candlestick language to open-close tests
Plotting these candlestick constructions requires open, high, low, and close for each bar.
Candlestick names describe how open and close sit on the same bar, and how one candlestick-body covers the body that came before it.
Editorial framing: translate those names into separate open-close tests, then reassemble the tests into a signed overlay so an engulfing or doji hypothesis can be plotted, checked, and rejected on the same bar. That framing is editorial and is not an archive claim.
How the candlestick-body and shadows are drawn
The candlestick-body is the thick rectangle of a bar, bounded by that bar’s open and close.
High and low form thin shadows that extend beyond that body.
A close above the open produces an empty-body. A close below the open produces a filled-body.
Separate body-state tests
Separate body-state tests can each plot +1 when an empty-body, a filled-body, or a doji is present.
Those three tests keep the open-close comparison on its own overlay before any two-bar engulfing search is added.
Bullish-engulfing-line and bearish-engulfing-line
A bullish-engulfing-line is a large empty-body that completely covers a preceding small filled-body after a notable decline.
A bearish-engulfing-line is a large filled-body that completely covers a preceding small empty-body after a notable advance.
The bullish engulfing search is specified after a significant decline and plots +1. The bearish engulfing search is specified after a significant advance and plots -1.
Building the signed-composite
Combining those two engulfing searches yields a signed-composite that plots +1 on a bullish engulfing detection and -1 on a bearish engulfing detection.
Formula-slot references inside the composite must be remapped to unused slots when a user’s custom-formula list is already occupied.
Editorial use of the overlay
Editorial interpretation: with the body-state tests and the signed-composite on the chart, a doji, a bullish-engulfing-line, or a bearish-engulfing-line can be plotted, checked, and rejected on the same bar.
That use is a TradersWeek reading of the historical workflow. It is not an archive claim about trading results.
All readings on this track · 11 readings
- 1992Constructing signed engulfing and doji detectors
- 1997Candlestick breadth timing on the 1996 S&P 100
- 2002Reading doji and engulfing after extended trends
- 2002A three-lock checklist for doji, gap, and stochastic reversals
- 2002Candlestick reliability after one-day follow-through
- 2004Constructing trendline calls with doji and engulfing
- 2004Doji construction, shadow geometry, and confirmation
- 2011Candlestick signals are not automatic trades
- 2011Breakout side versus catalog labels on finished candle recipes
- 2011Grading candlestick signals by frequency, trend, and breakout
- 2015Constructing candlesticks, doji, and hammer from OHLC