Sierra Capital Engulfing Detector
- Indicators
- Version: 1.28
Sierra Capital Engulfing Detector identifies bullish and bearish engulfing patterns directly on your chart. Two optional filters help you focus on patterns that align with the EMA trend or form near support and resistance levels.
A compact information panel displays the latest signal, filter status, trend direction and nearby support/resistance levels.
This is a charting and alert indicator. It does not open, manage or close trades.
WHAT YOU SEE ON THE CHART
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Green up arrows below bullish engulfing candles and red down arrows above bearish engulfing candles.
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An optional EMA line for trend filtering.
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Optional violet support/resistance lines showing the four levels nearest to the current price.
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An optional information panel displaying the pattern type, active filters, price position relative to the EMA, latest signal and, when the S/R filter is enabled, the nearest support and resistance levels with their distances in pips.
WHAT COUNTS AS AN ENGULFING CANDLE?
An engulfing pattern forms when a candle moves in the opposite direction to the previous candle and meets your selected engulfing criteria.
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Bullish: An up candle engulfs a previous down candle. The arrow appears below the candle.
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Bearish: A down candle engulfs a previous up candle. The arrow appears above the candle.
Choose between two detection modes:
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Whole Candle (default): The engulfing candle must cover the previous candle's entire high-to-low range, including its wicks.
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Previous Candle Body Only: The engulfing candle must cover the previous candle's body (open to close). A tolerance of 0.05 × ATR by default allows a small shortfall without rejecting the pattern.
Arrows appear after the candle closes. When a filter is enabled, only signals that pass the selected filter conditions are displayed.
OPTIONAL FILTERS
Both filters are OFF by default, allowing you to see all detected engulfing patterns before applying additional conditions.
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Trend Filter (EMA): Uses a 55-period EMA by default. Bullish signals are accepted only above the EMA, while bearish signals are accepted only below it.
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Support/Resistance Filter: Groups swing highs and lows into price levels using a minimum of two touches within half an ATR. Bullish signals are accepted when the candle's low is at a support level; bearish signals are accepted when the candle's high is at a resistance level. Only levels known at the time of the signal are considered.
HOW FILTERS AFFECT SIGNAL FREQUENCY
We counted signals across 12 charts covering EURUSD, GBPUSD, USDJPY, GBPJPY, XAUUSD and US30 on M15 and H1, using the last 1,500 bars of each chart.
Approximate signal counts were:
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No filters: 100
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EMA filter only: 58
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Support/resistance filter only: 35
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Both filters enabled: 20
These figures illustrate how filtering reduces the number of signals. They are signal counts, not trading results or evidence of profitability.
ALERTS
Receive popup alerts with sound, with optional mobile push notifications and email alerts.
The indicator does not send alerts for signals that already exist when it loads or when you change the chart timeframe.
SETTINGS
Five clearly organised settings groups:
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Engulfing Detection
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Trend Filter (EMA)
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Support/Resistance Filter
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Display Options
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Notification Options
When the S/R filter is enabled, arrows are displayed for the most recent 1,500 bars by default. You can adjust the History Depth up to 20,000 bars.
REQUIREMENTS AND IMPORTANT DETAILS
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Requires MetaTrader 5. Testing covered major forex pairs, gold and US30 on timeframes from M1 to H1.
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Signals are calculated on closed candles. Once an arrow is drawn, it does not move as the current candle develops.
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With the S/R filter enabled, a chart that has been running may show some differences in historical arrows compared with the same chart freshly loaded. This behaviour does not occur when the S/R filter is disabled.
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When the S/R filter is enabled, arrows older than the selected History Depth are removed.
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The S/R filter considers all known levels, although only the four nearest levels are drawn on the chart.
IMPORTANT
Sierra Capital Engulfing Detector is a visual analysis tool, not a trading strategy or a source of trading advice. Signals do not guarantee profitable trades, and past patterns do not predict future results. Trading leveraged products involves a high risk of loss. Test the indicator on a demo account before using it in live trading.
SUPPORT
For assistance, please use the MQL5 comments tab or send a private message through MQL5. Updates are documented in the version notes.
