Barbwire [yohtza]

This is an indicator that helps price action traders in determining when the market is in tight trading range.

Barbwire rules

The conditions for tight trading range are very simple. There has to be at least one doji (body is less than half size of the bars range from high to low) bar in the last three bars and there has to be lots of overlap between those bars. To quantify overlap indicator looks for bars that pull back 50% or more of the previous bars range and current bars that have 50% level touching the previous bar.

How to use this indicator?

For most traders it is best to avoid barbwire, only skilled and experienced traders who understand limit order trading can keep trading in these market conditions and still make money. So in simple terms it is a no trade zone and waiting for market to start trending again is most beneficial and greatly improves odds of achieving profitability and better trading results.

The term barbwire can be found in the books of Dr. Al Brooks which were the inspiration for creation of this indicator and are a great read for aspiring price action traders.