Bullish and Bearish Engulfing
This EA detects bullish and bearish engulfing candlestick patterns to generate trade signals. It enters long positions on bullish engulfing patterns and short positions on bearish engulfing patterns. The strategy relies purely on price action candlestick recognition without additional indicator confirmation.
Open the interactive view (equity curve, symbol switch)Key facts
Backtest results (H1, about 1 year)
| Symbol | P&L | Annual | Max DD | Trades | Win rate | Sharpe | Recovery | Losing streak | Per trade | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EURUSD | 0.00% | 0.00% | 0.00% | 0 | — | — | — | — | — | Not convertible yet |
| GBPUSD | 0.00% | 0.00% | 0.00% | 0 | — | — | — | — | — | Not convertible yet |
| USDJPY | 0.00% | 0.00% | 0.00% | 0 | — | — | — | — | — | Not convertible yet |
| XAUUSD | 0.00% | 0.00% | 0.00% | 0 | — | — | — | — | — | Not convertible yet |
Why this EA never traded: no entry rule survived the conversion.
Converted from MQL5 to Python and run with the same rules for every EA. Positions use MT5 lot sizes (100,000 units per FX lot, 100 oz per gold lot) with 1:100 leverage, one order at a time, and a stop-out below 10% of the starting balance. Sharpe is computed from the equity curve. Results marked as unreliable are shown for completeness only.
Blow-up risk: No blow-up pattern found
None of the usual blow-up patterns were found in the code, and the account was not stopped out in our backtests. That is not a guarantee: any EA can lose money.
High: stopped out in our backtest, or martingale/grid sizing without a stop loss. Elevated: martingale or grid sizing with a stop loss, or several positions at once without a stop loss. What the label means and what we found →
Strategy analysis
The strategy is centered on classic engulfing candlestick pattern recognition, where a bullish engulfing requires the current bullish candle body to completely engulf the previous bearish candle body, and vice versa for bearish engulfing. Entry conditions trigger immediately upon pattern completion, going long on bullish engulfing and short on bearish engulfing. Exit conditions rely on fixed stop-loss and take-profit parameters, lacking any dynamic exit mechanism based on pattern context or trailing logic. Position sizing uses a fixed lot approach without dynamic adjustment based on account equity or market volatility. Money management is rudimentary, depending solely on a fixed stop-loss for per-trade risk control without considering overall exposure or consecutive loss limits. The overall strategy logic is straightforward but singular, lacking filters and multi-timeframe confirmation, making it prone to numerous false signals in choppy markets.
Strengths
- Simple and clear strategy logic based on classic candlestick patterns, easy to understand and verify
- Engulfing patterns are relatively reliable reversal signals with decent win rates at trend exhaustion points
- Clean code structure that is easy to modify and extend with additional filters
- Fixed stop-loss and take-profit provide a basic risk control framework
Weaknesses
- Lacks trend filters and multi-confirmation mechanisms, generating frequent false signals in ranging markets
- Fixed lot sizing does not adapt to different account sizes or volatility environments, crude money management
- No new bar check mechanism, potentially opening duplicate positions on the same candle
- Exit mechanism relies solely on fixed SL/TP without dynamic exits based on pattern price targets
- Missing spread filter and trading session filter, may open positions under unfavorable conditions
Possible improvements
- Add trend direction filters (e.g., moving average or ADX) to trade engulfing patterns only in the trend direction
- Implement dynamic position sizing based on ATR or account risk percentage for better money management
- Add new bar check and position check to prevent duplicate entries and overexposure
Risk assessment
Overall risk: Medium
- No new bar check may cause duplicate position opening on the same candle leading to overexposure
- Pure candlestick pattern strategy prone to consecutive losses in choppy/ranging markets
- Fixed stop-loss ignores market volatility, too wide in low volatility and too tight in high volatility
Evaluation scores
Parameters
| Parameter | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
LotSize | 0.1 | Fixed trading lot size |
StopLoss | 50 | Stop loss in points |
TakeProfit | 100 | Take profit in points |
MagicNumber | 12345 | EA magic number for distinguishing orders |
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Backtests are historical simulations and do not guarantee future results. Not financial advice.