Dark Cloud Cover
Dark cloud cover is the bearish mirror of the piercing line: after an up candle, the next session opens higher but sells off to close below the midpoint of that up candle's body, a partial but decisive reversal of the prior session's gains.
- Bias
- Bearish
- Category
- Short Setups
- Scan cadence
- Every close
What has to be true for a Dark Cloud Cover to trigger
- An up candle followed by a down candle
- The down candle opening above the prior close
- The down candle closing below the midpoint of the prior body, but not below its open
- A preceding advance
How PatternGrade grades it
A deeper penetration into the prior candle's body raises the grade.
Every scanner grades its hits A+, A or B from the pattern's own measurable structure. The grading is deterministic — the same chart always produces the same grade. It describes how closely the chart matches the pattern, not how likely anything is to happen; no hit rate or probability is attached to a grade. The reasoning is set out in the methodology.
What a Dark Cloud Cover looks like in practice
A stock closes at $44.90 after opening at $42.10, a wide green body, following a two-week advance. The next session gaps up to open at $45.40, rallies briefly, then sells off to close at $43.20, below the $43.50 midpoint of the prior candle's body. Volume is up about 70% and the close is near the session low.
How a Dark Cloud Cover fails
The decline stalls above the prior candle's open and the advance resumes. Dark cloud cover is a partial reversal by construction, reversing part of the prior session rather than all of it, which makes it structurally weaker than a bearish engulfing. A close only marginally past the midpoint has demonstrated very little.
What this pattern is telling you
By construction this is a partial reversal. If the close falls below the prior open it becomes a bearish engulfing, which is a stronger signal.
PatternGrade is not a financial advisor and does not give buy or sell recommendations. Targets and stops shown on a pattern are reference levels derived from its geometry, not advice.
How to scan for Dark Cloud Cover setups
PatternGrade rescans every liquid US stock (~4,500 names) for this pattern after every close and returns the hits as a graded list, with the pattern drawn on each chart, so you review setups rather than hunt for them.
Join the waitlist to be invited when sign-ups reopen and see the current Dark Cloud Cover list, or browse all 75 patterns.
Dark Cloud Cover FAQ
What is dark cloud cover?
A two-candle bearish reversal where price opens above the prior close then sells off to close below the midpoint of the previous up candle.
What is dark cloud cover?
A two-candle bearish reversal: a substantial up candle, then a session that opens higher, classically with a gap, and sells off to close below the midpoint of that up candle's real body.
How far must the second candle close?
Below the 50% mark of the first candle's real body. Less than that and it is not dark cloud cover; more, and it approaches a bearish engulfing. PatternGrade grades on how deep the penetration is.
Does the second candle need to gap up?
Classically yes. In practice opening gaps on liquid US equities are less common than in the market the pattern originates from, so most implementations accept an open at or above the prior close.
Is dark cloud cover weaker than bearish engulfing?
Structurally, yes. It reverses part of the prior session rather than all of it. Both are two-candle patterns whose usefulness depends far more on location than on the geometry.
Patterns a Dark Cloud Cover is mistaken for
- Bearish Engulfing
- Engulfing fully covers the prior body; dark cloud cover only closes past its midpoint. Same idea, lesser degree.
- Evening Star
- Three candles with an indecision bar between. Dark cloud cover is two consecutive candles.
- Piercing Line
- The bullish mirror: a down candle followed by an up candle closing above its midpoint.
Last reviewed . Structure and grading for the Dark Cloud Cover are reviewed against the scanner's own rules.