Best Engulfing Candle Indicators on TradingView (2026), Code-Read.

Short answer: the popular engulfing scripts on TradingView don't agree on what an engulfing candle is. Of the 16 most-boosted open-source ones, six only ask for a close past the last candle's open, and the most boosted, AI-EngulfingCandle by ahmedirshad419 (6,637 boosts), never checks the engulfing candle's own colour. For the classic rule, opposite colours and a bigger body that covers the last one, HPotter's Bullish Engulfing (4,848) and Bearish Engulfing (3,115) are the plainest, and their alerts wait for the close. TradingView's own built-in Engulfing indicators use the same body test with a size and a trend check. Twelve of the 16 mark the candle while it is still forming.

Most lists name engulfing indicators.

This one reads them.

What we checked

An engulfing candle is a two-candle pattern: the second candle's body covers the first one's, and it closes the other way. TradingView's own built-in indicator describes a candle whose body "fully overtakes the body from the day before", and adds that "it is not essential for this pattern to completely overtake the range (high to low), rather only the open and the close." The pattern only exists once the second candle closes: until then its close is just the last price.

We searched TradingView's scripts for four terms on 31 October 2026 ("engulfing", "engulfing candle", "bullish engulfing" and "engulfing pattern") and kept the titles with "engulf" in them. That returned 119 scripts: 95 open source, 19 protected (free to add, with the code hidden) and 5 invite-only. We read the 16 most-boosted open-source ones, every line that decides when an engulfing is marked, alerted or traded, and TradingView's built-in Engulfing (bullish) and Engulfing (bearish), which its script search doesn't list. HPotter's bullish and bearish scripts share a row: one is the other's mirror. The questions:

• Body or range: must the new body cover the last body, the whole candle from high to low, or neither?
• Colours: must the two candles be opposite colours?
• Size: must the new body be bigger, or bigger than an average?
• Trend, location or volume: does it want a move down first, an RSI level, a moving average, or volume?
• When it decides: on the closed candle, or on the live one?
• Alerts, and the licence line.

Boosts as TradingView's search showed them on 31 October 2026. "The live candle" means the mark can appear while the candle is forming and vanish if it closes differently.

The table

Three more boosted ones have closed code, so they aren't in the table: Bullish and Bearish Engulfing Patterns auto detection by AlfonsoMoreno (4,651 boosts), Engulfing Bar by matsu_bitmex (1,517) and Engulfing Candle by Atilla Yurtseven (1,070) are protected, free to add with the code hidden; we can't say what their code does.

What the code says

Three rules go by one name. Seven of the 16 test that the new body covers the last body, two of them the range as well: cma's and serkany88's. One, rmunoz's, tests the body only after an opposite candle. Two test the range alone: Adam-Robinson's wants a higher high and a lower low than the last candle, and cryptovesta's a trade under the last low and a close at or past the last high, whatever the bodies do. Six ask for less than either: a close past the last candle's open, with the new candle's open left free, so a candle that opens inside the last body and closes just past its open counts, though it covers only part of it. Those six are ahmedirshad419's, BitcoinJesus-Not-Roger-Ver's, tommybeaulieu7b's, RickSimpson's, nephew_sam_'s and Daveatt's strategy.

The two most boosted are the loosest. ahmedirshad419's AI-EngulfingCandle (6,637 boosts) asks only that the last candle was red and this one closes at or above its open, close >= open[1] and close[1] < open[1], with its range test commented out. It never checks this candle's own colour, so a red candle that gaps up and closes above the last open counts as bullish. It marks one only after RSI(14) was at or below 30 on that candle or one of the two before (70 and above for bearish), labels it "buy MIT" or "sell MIT", and has no alerts. rmunoz's Engulfing Candle Indicator (6,060) never checks the last candle's colour: after a red candle its rule is the body, but after a green one any candle that opens below its open and closes above it counts as bullish engulfing, even with a smaller body.

HPotter's pair is the plain body rule. open[1] > close[1] ? close > open ? close >= open[1] ? close[1] >= open ? close - open > open[1] - close[1]: opposite colours, a body that reaches both ends of the last one, and strictly bigger. Its comment speaks of a downtrend; the code checks none. The bar colour shows on the live candle, but its alert() goes "once per bar close". Daveatt's Engulfing Candles Detector says it was "inspired by HPotter" and uses the same rule, and amri_pangestu's adds the two candles before the engulfed one, all the same colour.

Two sets of alerts written a way the manual warns against. Daveatt's detector writes its alerts as alertcondition(bullishEngulfing != na, …) and amri_pangestu's as alertcondition(Bueng != na, …): each compares the bar colour with na. Both are Pine version 4, whose manual says not to test for na with a comparison, since it may not work, and to use na() instead. Today's manual, read on 31 October 2026, says such comparisons "always return false if at least one of the operands is a variable with an na value", and that using na directly as an operand now "causes a compilation error". Don't rely on those alerts as written. We haven't run them on a live chart.

TradingView's built-in checks a size and a trend, and The Quant Science copies it. The built-in's bullish candle needs a green body above the 14-candle average of bodies (an EMA), a red one before it below its own average, the body test, and by default a close below the 50-period SMA: its "Detect Trend Based On" setting also offers SMA50 with SMA200, or no detection. thequantscience's strategy writes the same line, c_down_trend and c_white_body and c_long_body and c_black_body[1] and c_small_body[1] and close >= open[1] and open <= close[1] and (close > open[1] or open < close[1]), places a buy limit at the close, long only, and exits when its equity crosses 2% above or below where it stood at the entry.

Trend, location and volume. Daveatt's strategy enters when the last engulfing and the last cross of a 32-period SMA point the same way; its backtest window ends on 31 December 2020 by default, so on today's chart it opens no trades until you move it. tommybeaulieu7b's wants RSI(14) under 50, a close below the close five candles back, and a body over half the candle's true range. RickSimpson's labels only "strong" ones by default (a green candle, a bearish engulfing, then a bullish one) and needs the engulfed body between an eighth of ATR(100) and 1.1 times it; it draws a line at each engulfing candle's low (its high for bearish) until price trades through, and its alerts, on by default, go "once per bar", while the candle is still forming. Only Adam-Robinson's reads volume: more than the last candle's, on by default. Below the 16, Engulfing Sweeps - Milana Trades (579 boosts) can ask for 1.5 times the 20-candle average volume, off by default; Engulfing Pattern with Volume and EMAs by herbieheguel271124 (157) asks for more than that average, and Engulfing Candles (ATR-Based) with Volume Spike by Marc_Thiart (156) marks "BE*" at 1.5 times it. All three averages include the candle itself.

Twelve of the 16 mark the live candle. None of the 16 checks barstate.isconfirmed. Twelve draw their mark while the candle is forming, so it can appear mid-candle and be gone when the candle closes. Four decide on closed candles: the two strategies, which TradingView runs at each candle's close; cryptovesta's, which reads the candle before and draws its mark one candle back; and nephew_sam_'s alerts, which read the last closed candle on each of up to five timeframes and send JSON (its table also shades the live candle's, at half strength). Where a script uses alertcondition(), the frequency you pick when you create the alert decides: "Once per bar close" waits for the close.

Lines from the candle. BitcoinJesus-Not-Roger-Ver's draws two lines from each engulfing: one at the last candle's open, one at the lower of the two lows (the higher of the highs for bearish). It greys them when price trades back through the open and deletes them when it trades through the other. serkany88's is a pin bar that engulfs: a low under the last low, a close at or past the last high, a body that covers the last one, and a lower wick at least 30% of the body. If it's the zone before a move you're after, our order block code read reads 14 scripts for which candle each one boxes.

One candle, five rules

The same two candles, read five ways. Move your candle's open and close: the made-up red candle before it stays put, and each rule says whether yours engulfs it.

From the start, a green candle that covers the last body but not its wicks, three of the five call it bullish engulfing: the body rule, the close past the open and rmunoz's. "Covers it all" gets all five. "Past its open only" and "A red candle" get one each, the close past the open, which calls even a red candle bullish. "Red after red" gets two, rmunoz's and cryptovesta's, both calling a red candle after a red one bearish engulfing.

Ours

Engulfing Volume Desk isn't on TradingView's search: it's a Pine v6 strategy, and its full source comes in Pine Pro Library, $49 once for every desk and every update. Its source says:

• The rule: its "Engulfing definition" is "Body" by default: the last candle red (green for a short), this one green, its open at or below the last close, its close at or above the last open, and its body strictly bigger, math.abs(c - o) > math.abs(pc - po). A doji on either side doesn't count. "Body + full range" adds h >= ph and l <= pl.
• The trend: its "EMA trend filter", on by default: a long needs a close above the EMA 200 and the EMA higher than 5 candles ago; a short mirrors it.
• Volume: relative volume is the candle's volume over the average of the 20 before it, ta.sma(volume, volumeLength)[1], graded Low below 1.0, Medium from 1.0 and High from 1.5. With "Minimum confirmation" at Low, the default, every grade passes; missing or zero volume, on the candle or any of the 20 before, blocks a setup. Its panel says "Volume strength only" and "Probability untested".
• When it decides: everything inside if barstate.isconfirmed, in a strategy with calc_on_every_tick = false, so on the closed candle, with its orders live from the next tick.
• The plan: a stop order one tick past the last candle's high (its low for a short), or the next tick when the close is already through; a stop one tick past both candles; a target at 2R; the order cancelled after five candles, or when a close shows the stop was touched first. One setup at a time.
• Alerts: no alertcondition() and no alert(). Its orders carry messages for a strategy alert: "Aggressive entry filled" and "Aggressive bracket filled", and, with its retest entry on, "Retest entry filled" and "Retest bracket filled".

Its triangles and plan lines appear only once the candle has closed. It's a strategy, so TradingView's Pine Screener can't run it.

We tested it. On OANDA gold's 4-hour chart, after costs and overnight financing, the plain rule lost on 2023–24, the history we had held back, and finished ahead on 2025–26, the period we developed it on. Its volume grade "described the candle; it did not tell good setups from bad ones." Every number is in the Engulfing Volume Desk study. We haven't tested any other script here.

Scanners, screeners, MT4 and MT5

Every script here, ours included, is Pine Script, and Pine runs only on TradingView: not on MT4, MT5 or Chartink. We haven't checked what MT4, MT5 or Chartink offer on their own.

A Pine indicator reads one chart. Daveatt's BEST Ultimate Engulfing Screener (573 boosts) checks five symbols from it, EURUSD, GBPUSD, AUDUSD, NZDUSD and USDCAD by default, with his strategy's rule. To run an engulfing script over a whole watchlist on TradingView, you need its Pine Screener, which "allows you to scan your custom watchlists and indices using Pine Script", in its help's words, read on 31 October 2026; the same page says it doesn't support strategies or patterns. It also needs a plot or an alertcondition() to pick a script, so HPotter's pair and cma's, which only colour bars, can't be used there. TradingView's pricing page, read the same day, ticks the Pine Screener for Premium and Ultimate only (our Pine Screener check). TradingView's Stock Screener is a different tool: it filters by TradingView's own data and doesn't run the scripts here. We haven't run these scripts in the Pine Screener.

Check one yourself

• Find the body. After a red candle, close >= open[1] and open <= close[1] together are the body; close - open > open[1] - close[1] makes it bigger. high >= high[1] and low <= low[1] are the range. close > open[1] alone is only a close past the last open.
• Find the colours. close[1] < open[1] is the last candle red; close > open is this one green. A script that checks one and not the other calls some same-colour pairs engulfing.
• Find the close. barstate.isconfirmed, alert.freq_once_per_bar_close, a strategy, or a rule on [1] and [2] values decides on a closed candle. Without one of them, set your alert to "Once per bar close". How to tell if an indicator repaints has the full check.
• Find the alert. An alertcondition() on x != na isn't a reliable test: the Pine manual says not to compare with na, and version 6 won't compile it. not na(x) is the test that works.

Alerts on an indicator need a paid plan. TradingView's pricing page, read on 31 October 2026, shows no technical alerts on indicators on Basic, 20 on Essential, 100 on Plus, 400 on Premium and 1,000 on Ultimate.

Sources

• Each script's Pine source, as TradingView served it on 31 October 2026, at its link in the table; TradingView's built-in Engulfing (bullish) and Engulfing (bearish), as its script service served them that day.
• TradingView's Pine manual, read on 31 October 2026: Type system (na and comparisons).
• The Pine version 4 manual, read the same day: Type system (testing for na).
• TradingView's pricing page and its help page TradingView Pine Screener: key features and requirements, read on 31 October 2026.
• Engulfing Volume Desk: its Pine source, engulfing-volume-desk.pine (v0.6.1), in Pine Pro Library.

Limits

One code read, on 31 October 2026, of the versions TradingView served that day. Scripts change, and boosts measure popularity, not quality. The drill runs made-up candles, not market data. We build and sell Engulfing Volume Desk, and we have no relationship with any author named here. Nothing here is financial advice.