Patterns › Piercing line vs Dark cloud cover
Look-alikes
Piercing line vs Dark cloud cover
They look alike, so beginners mix them up. Here is what each one means, and how often each one worked on real charts.
Piercing line
After a big red candle, green closes above its middle.
A piercing line has two candles and appears after a fall: a long red candle, then a green candle that opens low and closes above the middle of the red body, but not above its top. Classic books want the green candle to open with a gap below the red candle's low, but crypto rarely gaps, so in our library it opens at or below the red close. It shows buyers won back more than half of the drop, a possible turn up that still needs confirmation.
Accepting a green close below the middle of the red body, which is too small a comeback.
Dark cloud cover
After a big green candle, red closes below its middle.
A dark cloud cover has two candles and appears after a rise: a long green candle, then a red candle that opens high and closes below the middle of the green body, but not below its bottom. Classic books want the red candle to open with a gap above the green candle's high, but crypto rarely gaps, so in our library it opens at or above the green close. It shows sellers took back more than half of the climb, a possible turn down that still needs confirmation.
Accepting a red close above the middle of the green body, which is too small a push down.
Real odds side by side
| Pattern | Found | Target first | Stop first | Went nowhere |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Piercing line | 6,128 | 34% | 55% | 11% |
| Dark cloud cover | 6,385 | 36% | 57% | 8% |
Counted by the Trading Class research engine on real past candles: entry at the signal candle's close, target 1.5 × ATR(14), stop 1 × ATR(14), 12 candles to decide, a candle that touches both counts as the stop. How we count. Past data, not a forecast and not advice.