Candlestick formation · Bullish
What is it, in one line
Two marubozu, then a candle whose range swallows the third.
Bullish · 4 candles · verdict: rule and thresholds below
Two marubozu, then a candle whose range swallows the third. The engine checks the formation as an executable condition over open, high, low and close, with a trend filter applied before the count is kept.
Method
Four consecutive down candles: two near-solid bodies, a third that gaps down but rallies back into the second’s body, and a fourth whose range completely covers the third. A decline that keeps going while visibly losing its footing.
The traditional claim
Traditionally read as a bullish reversal despite consisting entirely of down candles, which is what makes it unusual enough to be worth testing.
How this detection is wrong
All four candles must be down candles. If any one closes higher the formation is void, which is why it is among the rarest in the classical set.
Published so the count can be reproduced. Every figure below is a parameter of the rule, not a preference: change one and the occurrence count changes with it.
| Parameter | Meaning | Default |
|---|---|---|
| trendPeriod | bars of prior trend inspected | 5 |
| maxPriorSlope | prior slope must be below | -1 |
| minMarubozuPct | body large enough to count as a marubozu | 0.85 |
These share enough geometry that a detector can return more than one of them on the same bar. The engine reports every match rather than picking a winner.
Every pair on the site that can be mistaken for another, and what separates each: the look-alikes index.
Four consecutive down candles: two near-solid bodies, a third that gaps down but rallies back into the second’s body, and a fourth whose range completely covers the third. A decline that keeps going while visibly losing its footing. The detector also requires a prior downtrend, so the same shape in the wrong context is not counted.
It is read as bullish. Traditionally read as a bullish reversal despite consisting entirely of down candles, which is what makes it unusual enough to be worth testing.
All four candles must be down candles. If any one closes higher the formation is void, which is why it is among the rarest in the classical set.
As an executable rule over open, high, low and close, with 3 named parameters — including bars of prior trend inspected 5, prior slope must be below -1, body large enough to count as a marubozu 0.85 — all published on this page so the count can be reproduced. Strict and loose variants are defined as well, so the sensitivity of the count to those thresholds is visible rather than assumed.
Measurement pending re-run
No hit rate is published here yet. The run that would supply one was computed on engine ca6d9e36c81c; the engine is now cfb08765de7c. Its candlestick rows included the still-forming bar, and it predates the chart formations entirely, so those figures have been withdrawn rather than published with a caveat. The definition above is unaffected: it is what the detector tests, and no re-run changes it.