Turtle Trade Channels by KıvanÇ fr3762his trend following system was designed by Dennis Gartman and Bill Eckhart, and relies on breakouts of historical highs and lows to take and close trades: it is the complete opposite to the "buy low and sell high" approach. This trend following system was taught to a group of average and normal individuals, and almost everyone turned into a profitable trader.
The main rule is "Trade an N-day breakout and take profits when an M-day high or low is breached (N must me above M)". Examples:
Buy a 10-day breakout and close the trade when price action reaches a 5-day low.
Go short a 20-day breakout and close the trade when price action reaches a 10-day high.
In this indicator, the red line is the trading line, and the dotted blue line is the exit line. Original system is:
Go long when the trading line crosses below close price
Go short when the trading line rosses above close price
Exit long positions when the price touches the exit line
Exit short positions when the price touches the exit line
Recommended initial stop-loss is ATR * 2 from the opening price. Default system parameters were 20,10 and 55,20.
Original Turtle Rules:
To trade exactly like the turtles did, you need to set up two indicators representing the main and the failsafe system.
Set up the main indicator with TradePeriod = 20 and StopPeriod = 10 (A.k.a S1)
Set up the failsafe indicator with TradePeriod = 55 and StopPeriod = 20 using a different color. (A.k.a S2)
The entry strategy using S1 is as follows
Buy 20-day breakouts using S1 only if last signaled trade was a loss.
Sell 20-day breakouts using S1 only if last signaled trade was a loss.
If last signaled trade by S1 was a win, you shouldn't trade -Irregardless of the direction or if you traded last signal it or not-
The entry strategy using S2 is as follows:
Buy 55-day breakouts only if you ignored last S1 signal and the market is rallying without you
Sell 55-day breakouts only if you ignored last S1 signal and the market is pluging without you
The turtles had a progressive position sizing approach that boosted their winnings. Once a trading decision has been made you should...
Developers: Dennis Gartman and Bill Eckhart
İndikatörü geliştiren: Dennis Gartman and Bill Eckhart
Tìm kiếm tập lệnh với "breakout"
Bollinger Band Spread (Dunk)Bollinger Band Width measures the distance between the upper and lower Bollinger Bands. It reflects market volatility—wider bands mean higher volatility, narrower bands mean lower volatility.
When the width contracts to low levels, it can signal price consolidation and potential breakouts. When the width expands, it indicates active markets or strong trends.
Traders use it to spot volatility squeezes, confirm breakouts, and compare relative volatility across assets or timeframes.
COT IndexTHE HIDDEN INTELLIGENCE IN FUTURES MARKETS
What if you could see what the smartest players in the futures markets are doing before the crowd catches on? While retail traders chase momentum indicators and moving averages, obsess over Japanese candlestick patterns, and debate whether the RSI should be set to fourteen or twenty-one periods, institutional players leave footprints in the sand through their mandatory reporting to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. These footprints, published weekly in the Commitment of Traders reports, have been hiding in plain sight for decades, available to anyone with an internet connection, yet remarkably few traders understand how to interpret them correctly. The COT Index indicator transforms this raw institutional positioning data into actionable trading signals, bringing Wall Street intelligence to your trading screen without requiring expensive Bloomberg terminals or insider connections.
The uncomfortable truth is this: Most retail traders operate in a binary world. Long or short. Buy or sell. They apply technical analysis to individual positions, constrained by limited capital that forces them to concentrate risk in single directional bets. Meanwhile, institutional traders operate in an entirely different dimension. They manage portfolios dynamically weighted across multiple markets, adjusting exposure based on evolving market conditions, correlation shifts, and risk assessments that retail traders never see. A hedge fund might be simultaneously long gold, short oil, neutral on copper, and overweight agricultural commodities, with position sizes calibrated to volatility and portfolio Greeks. When they increase gold exposure from five percent to eight percent of portfolio allocation, this rebalancing decision reflects sophisticated analysis of opportunity cost, risk parity, and cross-market dynamics that no individual chart pattern can capture.
This portfolio reweighting activity, multiplied across hundreds of institutional participants, manifests in the aggregate positioning data published weekly by the CFTC. The Commitment of Traders report does not show individual trades or strategies. It shows the collective footprint of how actual commercial hedgers and large speculators have allocated their capital across different markets. When mining companies collectively increase forward gold sales to hedge thirty percent more production than last quarter, they are not reacting to a moving average crossover. They are making strategic allocation decisions based on production forecasts, cost structures, and price expectations derived from operational realities invisible to outside observers. This is portfolio management in action, revealed through positioning data rather than price charts.
If you want to understand how institutional capital actually flows, how sophisticated traders genuinely position themselves across market cycles, the COT report provides a rare window into that hidden world. But understand what you are getting into. This is not a tool for scalpers seeking confirmation of the next five-minute move. This is not an oscillator that flashes oversold at market bottoms with convenient precision. COT analysis operates on a timescale measured in weeks and months, revealing positioning shifts that precede major market turns but offer no precision timing. The data arrives three days stale, published only once per week, capturing strategic positioning rather than tactical entries.
If you need instant gratification, if you trade intraday moves, if you demand mechanical signals with ninety percent accuracy, close this document now. COT analysis rewards patience, position sizing discipline, and tolerance for being early. It punishes impatience, overleveraging, and the expectation that any single indicator can substitute for market understanding.
The premise is deceptively simple. Every Tuesday, large traders in futures markets must report their positions to the CFTC. By Friday afternoon, this data becomes public. Academic research spanning three decades has consistently shown that not all market participants are created equal. Some traders consistently profit while others consistently lose. Some anticipate major turning points while others chase trends into exhaustion. Bessembinder and Chan (1992) demonstrated in their seminal study that commercial hedgers, those with actual exposure to the underlying commodity or financial instrument, possess superior forecasting ability compared to speculators. Their research, published in the Journal of Finance, found statistically significant predictive power in commercial positioning, particularly at extreme levels. This finding challenged the efficient market hypothesis and opened the door to a new approach to market analysis based on positioning rather than price alone.
Think about what this means. Every week, the government publishes a report showing you exactly how the most informed market participants are positioned. Not their opinions. Not their predictions. Their actual money at risk. When agricultural producers collectively hold their largest short hedge in five years, they are not making idle speculation. They are locking in prices for crops they will harvest, informed by private knowledge of weather conditions, soil quality, inventory levels, and demand expectations invisible to outside observers. When energy companies aggressively hedge forward production at current prices, they reveal information about expected supply that no analyst report can capture. This is not technical analysis based on past prices. This is not fundamental analysis based on publicly available data. This is behavioral analysis based on how the smartest money is actually positioned, how institutions allocate capital across portfolios, and how those allocation decisions shift as market conditions evolve.
WHY SOME TRADERS KNOW MORE THAN OTHERS
Building on this foundation, Sanders, Boris and Manfredo (2004) conducted extensive research examining the behaviour patterns of different trader categories. Their work, which analyzed over a decade of COT data across multiple commodity markets, revealed a fascinating dynamic that challenges much of what retail traders are taught. Commercial hedgers consistently positioned themselves against market extremes, buying when speculators were most bearish and selling when speculators reached peak bullishness. The contrarian positioning of commercials was not random noise but rather reflected their superior information about supply and demand fundamentals. Meanwhile, large speculators, primarily hedge funds and commodity trading advisors, exhibited strong trend-following behaviour that often amplified market moves beyond fundamental values. Small traders, the retail participants, consistently entered positions late in trends, frequently near turning points, making them reliable contrary indicators.
Wang (2003) extended this research by demonstrating that the predictive power of commercial positioning varies significantly across different commodity sectors. His analysis of agricultural commodities showed particularly strong forecasting ability, with commercial net positions explaining up to fifteen percent of return variance in subsequent weeks. This finding suggests that the informational advantages of hedgers are most pronounced in markets where physical supply and demand fundamentals dominate, as opposed to purely financial markets where information asymmetries are smaller. When a corn farmer hedges six months of expected harvest, that decision incorporates private observations about rainfall patterns, crop health, pest pressure, and local storage capacity that no distant analyst can match. When an oil refinery hedges crude oil purchases and gasoline sales simultaneously, the spread relationships reveal expectations about refining margins that reflect operational realities invisible in public data.
The theoretical mechanism underlying these empirical patterns relates to information asymmetry and different participant motivations. Commercial hedgers engage in futures markets not for speculative profit but to manage business risks. An agricultural producer selling forward six months of expected harvest is not making a bet on price direction but rather locking in revenue to facilitate financial planning and ensure business viability. However, this hedging activity necessarily incorporates private information about expected supply, inventory levels, weather conditions, and demand trends that the hedger observes through their commercial operations (Irwin and Sanders, 2012). When aggregated across many participants, this private information manifests in collective positioning.
Consider a gold mining company deciding how much forward production to hedge. Management must estimate ore grades, recovery rates, production costs, equipment reliability, labor availability, and dozens of other operational variables that determine whether locking in prices at current levels makes business sense. If the industry collectively hedges more aggressively than usual, it suggests either exceptional production expectations or concern about sustaining current price levels or combination of both. Either way, this positioning reveals information unavailable to speculators analyzing price charts and economic data. The hedger sees the physical reality behind the financial abstraction.
Large speculators operate under entirely different incentives and constraints. Commodity Trading Advisors managing billions in assets typically employ systematic, trend-following strategies that respond to price momentum rather than fundamental supply and demand. When crude oil rallies from sixty dollars to seventy dollars per barrel, these systems generate buy signals. As the rally continues to eighty dollars, position sizes increase. The strategy works brilliantly during sustained trends but becomes a liability at reversals. By the time oil reaches ninety dollars, trend-following funds are maximally long, having accumulated positions progressively throughout the rally. At this point, they represent not smart money anticipating further gains but rather crowded money vulnerable to reversal. Sanders, Boris and Manfredo (2004) documented this pattern across multiple energy markets, showing that extreme speculator positioning typically marked late-stage trend exhaustion rather than early-stage trend development.
Small traders, the retail participants who fall below reporting thresholds, display the weakest forecasting ability. Wang (2003) found that small trader positioning exhibited negative correlation with subsequent returns, meaning their aggregate positioning served as a reliable contrary indicator. The explanation combines several factors. Retail traders often lack the capital reserves to weather normal market volatility, leading to premature exits from positions that would eventually prove profitable. They tend to receive information through slower channels, entering trends after mainstream media coverage when institutional participants are preparing to exit. Perhaps most importantly, they trade with emotion, buying into euphoria and selling into panic at precisely the wrong times.
At major turning points, the three groups often position opposite each other with commercials extremely bearish, large speculators extremely bullish, and small traders piling into longs at the last moment. These high-divergence environments frequently precede increased volatility and trend reversals. The insiders with business exposure quietly exit as the momentum traders hit maximum capacity and retail enthusiasm peaks. Within weeks, the reversal begins, and positions unwind in the opposite sequence.
FROM RAW DATA TO ACTIONABLE SIGNALS
The COT Index indicator operationalizes these academic findings into a practical trading tool accessible through TradingView. At its core, the indicator normalizes net positioning data onto a zero to one hundred scale, creating what we call the COT Index. This normalization is critical because absolute position sizes vary dramatically across different futures contracts and over time. A commercial trader holding fifty thousand contracts net long in crude oil might be extremely bullish by historical standards, or it might be quite neutral depending on the context of total market size and historical ranges. Raw position numbers mean nothing without context. The COT Index solves this problem by calculating where current positioning stands relative to its range over a specified lookback period, typically two hundred fifty-two weeks or approximately five years of weekly data.
The mathematical transformation follows the methodology originally popularized by legendary trader Larry Williams, though the underlying concept appears in statistical normalization techniques across many fields. For any given trader category, we calculate the highest and lowest net position values over the lookback period, establishing the historical range for that specific market and trader group. Current positioning is then expressed as a percentage of this range, where zero represents the most bearish positioning ever seen in the lookback window and one hundred represents the most bullish extreme. A reading of fifty indicates positioning exactly in the middle of the historical range, suggesting neither extreme optimism nor pessimism relative to recent history (Williams and Noseworthy, 2009).
This index-based approach allows for meaningful comparison across different markets and time periods, overcoming the scaling problems inherent in analyzing raw position data. A commercial index reading of eighty-five in gold carries the same interpretive meaning as an eighty-five reading in wheat or crude oil, even though the absolute position sizes differ by orders of magnitude. This standardization enables systematic analysis across entire futures portfolios rather than requiring market-specific expertise for each contract.
The lookback period selection involves a fundamental tradeoff between responsiveness and stability. Shorter lookback periods, perhaps one hundred twenty-six weeks or approximately two and a half years, make the index more sensitive to recent positioning changes. However, it also increases noise and produces more false signals. Longer lookback periods, perhaps five hundred weeks or approximately ten years, create smoother readings that filter short-term noise but become slower to recognize regime changes. The indicator settings allow users to adjust this parameter based on their trading timeframe, risk tolerance, and market characteristics.
UNDERSTANDING CFTC DATA STRUCTURES
The indicator supports both Legacy and Disaggregated COT report formats, reflecting the evolution of CFTC reporting standards over decades of market development. Legacy reports categorize market participants into three broad groups: commercial traders (hedgers with underlying business exposure), non-commercial traders (large speculators seeking profit without commercial interest), and non-reportable traders (small speculators below reporting thresholds). Each category brings distinct motivations and information advantages to the market (CFTC, 2020).
The Disaggregated reports, introduced in September 2009 for physical commodity markets, provide finer granularity by splitting participants into five categories (CFTC, 2009). Producer and merchant positions capture those actually producing, processing, or merchandising the physical commodity. Swap dealers represent financial intermediaries facilitating derivative transactions for clients. Managed money includes commodity trading advisors and hedge funds executing systematic or discretionary strategies. Other reportables encompasses diverse participants not fitting the main categories. Small traders remain as the fifth group, representing retail participation.
This enhanced categorization reveals nuances invisible in Legacy reports, particularly distinguishing between different types of institutional capital and their distinct behavioural patterns. The indicator automatically detects which report type is appropriate for each futures contract and adjusts the display accordingly.
Importantly, Disaggregated reports exist only for physical commodity futures. Agricultural commodities like corn, wheat, and soybeans have Disaggregated reports because clear producer, merchant, and swap dealer categories exist. Energy commodities like crude oil and natural gas similarly have well-defined commercial hedger categories. Metals including gold, silver, and copper also receive Disaggregated treatment (CFTC, 2009). However, financial futures such as equity index futures, Treasury bond futures, and currency futures remain available only in Legacy format. The CFTC has indicated no plans to extend Disaggregated reporting to financial futures due to different market structures and participant categories in these instruments (CFTC, 2020).
THE BEHAVIORAL FOUNDATION
Understanding which trader perspective to follow requires appreciation of their distinct trading styles, success rates, and psychological profiles. Commercial hedgers exhibit anticyclical behaviour rooted in their fundamental knowledge and business imperatives. When agricultural producers hedge forward sales during harvest season, they are not speculating on price direction but rather locking in revenue for crops they will harvest. Their business requires converting volatile commodity exposure into predictable cash flows to facilitate planning and ensure survival through difficult periods. Yet their aggregate positioning reveals valuable information because these hedging decisions incorporate private information about supply conditions, inventory levels, weather observations, and demand expectations that hedgers observe through their commercial operations (Bessembinder and Chan, 1992).
Consider a practical example from energy markets. Major oil companies continuously hedge portions of forward production based on price levels, operational costs, and financial planning needs. When crude oil trades at ninety dollars per barrel, they might aggressively hedge the next twelve months of production, locking in prices that provide comfortable profit margins above their extraction costs. This hedging appears as short positioning in COT reports. If oil rallies further to one hundred dollars, they hedge even more aggressively, viewing these prices as exceptional opportunities to secure revenue. Their short positioning grows increasingly extreme. To an outside observer watching only price charts, the rally suggests bullishness. But the commercial positioning reveals that the actual producers of oil find these prices attractive enough to lock in years of sales, suggesting skepticism about sustaining even higher levels. When the eventual reversal occurs and oil declines back to eighty dollars, the commercials who hedged at ninety and one hundred dollars profit while speculators who chased the rally suffer losses.
Large speculators or managed money traders operate under entirely different incentives and constraints. Their systematic, momentum-driven strategies mean they amplify existing trends rather than anticipate reversals. Trend-following systems, the most common approach among large speculators, by definition require confirmation of trend through price momentum before entering positions (Sanders, Boris and Manfredo, 2004). When crude oil rallies from sixty dollars to eighty dollars per barrel over several months, trend-following algorithms generate buy signals based on moving average crossovers, breakouts, and other momentum indicators. As the rally continues, position sizes increase according to the systematic rules.
However, this approach becomes a liability at turning points. By the time oil reaches ninety dollars after a sustained rally, trend-following funds are maximally long, having accumulated positions progressively throughout the move. At this point, their positioning does not predict continued strength. Rather, it often marks late-stage trend exhaustion. The psychological and mechanical explanation is straightforward. Trend followers by definition chase price momentum, entering positions after trends establish rather than anticipating them. Eventually, they become fully invested just as the trend nears completion, leaving no incremental buying power to sustain the rally. When the first signs of reversal appear, systematic stops trigger, creating a cascade of selling that accelerates the downturn.
Small traders consistently display the weakest track record across academic studies. Wang (2003) found that small trader positioning exhibited negative correlation with subsequent returns in his analysis across multiple commodity markets. This result means that whatever small traders collectively do, the opposite typically proves profitable. The explanation for small trader underperformance combines several factors documented in behavioral finance literature. Retail traders often lack the capital reserves to weather normal market volatility, leading to premature exits from positions that would eventually prove profitable. They tend to receive information through slower channels, learning about commodity trends through mainstream media coverage that arrives after institutional participants have already positioned. Perhaps most importantly, retail traders are more susceptible to emotional decision-making, buying into euphoria and selling into panic at precisely the wrong times (Tharp, 2008).
SETTINGS, THRESHOLDS, AND SIGNAL GENERATION
The practical implementation of the COT Index requires understanding several key features and settings that users can adjust to match their trading style, timeframe, and risk tolerance. The lookback period determines the time window for calculating historical ranges. The default setting of two hundred fifty-two bars represents approximately one year on daily charts or five years on weekly charts, balancing responsiveness with stability. Conservative traders seeking only the most extreme, highest-probability signals might extend the lookback to five hundred bars or more. Aggressive traders seeking earlier entry and willing to accept more false positives might reduce it to one hundred twenty-six bars or even less for shorter-term applications.
The bullish and bearish thresholds define signal generation levels. Default settings of eighty and twenty respectively reflect academic research suggesting meaningful information content at these extremes. Readings above eighty indicate positioning in the top quintile of the historical range, representing genuine extremes rather than temporary fluctuations. Conversely, readings below twenty occupy the bottom quintile, indicating unusually bearish positioning (Briese, 2008).
However, traders must recognize that appropriate thresholds vary by market, trader category, and personal risk tolerance. Some futures markets exhibit wider positioning swings than others due to seasonal patterns, volatility characteristics, or participant behavior. Conservative traders seeking high-probability setups with fewer signals might raise thresholds to eighty-five and fifteen. Aggressive traders willing to accept more false positives for earlier entry could lower them to seventy-five and twenty-five.
The key is maintaining meaningful differentiation between bullish, neutral, and bearish zones. The default settings of eighty and twenty create a clear three-zone structure. Readings from zero to twenty represent bearish territory where the selected trader group holds unusually bearish positions. Readings from twenty to eighty represent neutral territory where positioning falls within normal historical ranges. Readings from eighty to one hundred represent bullish territory where the selected trader group holds unusually bullish positions.
The trading perspective selection determines which participant group the indicator follows, fundamentally shaping interpretation and signal meaning. For counter-trend traders seeking reversal opportunities, monitoring commercial positioning makes intuitive sense based on the academic research discussed earlier. When commercials reach extreme bearish readings below twenty, indicating unprecedented short positioning relative to recent history, they are effectively betting against the crowd. Given their informational advantages demonstrated by Bessembinder and Chan (1992), this contrarian stance often precedes major bottoms.
Trend followers might instead monitor large speculator positioning, but with inverted logic compared to commercials. When managed money reaches extreme bullish readings above eighty, the trend may be exhausting rather than accelerating. This seeming paradox reflects their late-cycle participation documented by Sanders, Boris and Manfredo (2004). Sophisticated traders thus use speculator extremes as fade signals, entering positions opposite to speculator consensus.
Small trader monitoring serves primarily as a contrary indicator for all trading styles. Extreme small trader bullishness above seventy-five or eighty typically warns of retail FOMO at market tops. Extreme small trader bearishness below twenty or twenty-five often marks capitulation bottoms where the last weak hands have sold.
VISUALIZATION AND USER INTERFACE
The visual design incorporates multiple elements working together to facilitate decision-making and maintain situational awareness during active trading. The primary COT Index line plots in bold with adjustable line width, defaulting to two pixels for clear visibility against busy price charts. An optional glow effect, controlled by a simple toggle, adds additional visual prominence through multiple plot layers with progressively increasing transparency and width.
A twenty-one period exponential moving average overlays the index line, providing trend context for positioning changes. When the index crosses above its moving average, it signals accelerating bullish sentiment among the selected trader group regardless of whether absolute positioning is extreme. Conversely, when the index crosses below its moving average, it signals deteriorating sentiment and potentially the beginning of a reversal in positioning trends.
The EMA provides a dynamic reference line for assessing positioning momentum. When the index trades far above its EMA, positioning is not only extreme in absolute terms but also building with momentum. When the index trades far below its EMA, positioning is contracting or reversing, which may indicate weakening conviction even if absolute levels remain elevated.
The data table positioned at the top right of the chart displays eleven metrics for each trader category, transforming the indicator from a simple index calculation into an analytical dashboard providing multidimensional market intelligence. Beyond the COT Index itself, users can monitor positioning extremity, which measures how unusual current levels are compared to historical norms using statistical techniques. The extremity metric clarifies whether a reading represents the ninety-fifth or ninety-ninth percentile, with values above two standard deviations indicating genuinely exceptional positioning.
Market power quantifies each group's influence on total open interest. This metric expresses each trader category's net position as a percentage of total market open interest. A commercial entity holding forty percent of total open interest commands significantly more influence than one holding five percent, making their positioning signals more meaningful.
Momentum and rate of change metrics reveal whether positions are building or contracting, providing early warning of potential regime shifts. Position velocity measures the rate of change in positioning changes, effectively a second derivative providing even earlier insight into inflection points.
Sentiment divergence highlights disagreements between commercial and speculative positioning. This metric calculates the absolute difference between normalized commercial and large speculator index values. Wang (2003) found that these high-divergence environments frequently preceded increased volatility and reversals.
The table also displays concentration metrics when available, showing how positioning is distributed among the largest handful of traders in each category. High concentration indicates a few dominant players controlling most of the positioning, while low concentration suggests broad-based participation across many traders.
THE ALERT SYSTEM AND MONITORING
The alert system, comprising five distinct alert conditions, enables systematic monitoring of dozens of futures markets without constant screen watching. The bullish and bearish COT signal alerts trigger when the index crosses user-defined thresholds, indicating the selected trader group has reached extreme positioning worthy of attention. These alerts fire in real-time as new weekly COT data publishes, typically Friday afternoon following the Tuesday measurement date.
Extreme positioning alerts fire at ninety and ten index levels, representing the top and bottom ten percent of the historical range, warning of particularly stretched readings that historically precede reversals with high probability. When commercials reach a COT Index reading below ten, they are expressing their most bearish stance in the entire lookback period.
The data staleness alert notifies users when COT reports have not updated for more than ten days, preventing reliance on outdated information for trading decisions. Government shutdowns or federal holidays can interrupt the normal Friday publication schedule. Using stale signals while believing them current creates dangerous false confidence.
The indicator's watermark information display positioned in the bottom right corner provides essential context at a glance. This persistent display shows the symbol and timeframe, the COT report date timestamp, days since last update, and the current signal state. A trader analyzing a potential short entry in crude oil can glance at the watermark to instantly confirm positioning context without interrupting analysis flow.
LIMITATIONS AND REALISTIC EXPECTATIONS
Practical application requires understanding both the indicator's considerable strengths and inherent limitations. COT data inherently lags price action by three days, as Tuesday positions are not published until Friday afternoon. This delay means the indicator cannot catch rapid intraday reversals or respond to surprise news events. Traders using the COT Index for timing entries must accept this latency and focus on swing trading and position trading timeframes where three-day lags matter less than in day trading or scalping.
The weekly publication schedule similarly makes the indicator unsuitable for short-term trading strategies requiring immediate feedback. The COT Index works best for traders operating on weekly or longer timeframes, where positioning shifts measured in weeks and months align with trading horizon.
Extreme COT readings can persist far longer than typical technical indicators suggest, testing the patience and capital reserves of traders attempting to fade them. When crude oil enters a sustained bull market driven by genuine supply disruptions, commercial hedgers may maintain bearish positioning for many months as prices grind higher. A commercial COT Index reading of fifteen indicating extreme bearishness might persist for three months while prices continue rallying before finally reversing. Traders without sufficient capital and risk tolerance to weather such drawdowns will exit prematurely, precisely when the signal is about to work (Irwin and Sanders, 2012).
Position sizing discipline becomes paramount when implementing COT-based strategies. Rather than risking large percentages of capital on individual signals, successful COT traders typically allocate modest position sizes across multiple signals, allowing some to take time to mature while others work more quickly.
The indicator also cannot overcome fundamental regime changes that alter the structural drivers of markets. If gold enters a true secular bull market driven by monetary debasement, commercial hedgers may remain persistently bearish as mining companies sell forward years of production at what they perceive as favorable prices. Their positioning indicates valuation concerns from a production cost perspective, but cannot stop prices from rising if investment demand overwhelms physical supply-demand balance.
Similarly, structural changes in market participation can alter the meaning of positioning extremes. The growth of commodity index investing in the two thousands brought massive passive long-only capital into futures markets, fundamentally changing typical positioning ranges. Traders relying on COT signals without recognizing this regime change would have generated numerous false bearish signals during the commodity supercycle from 2003 to 2008.
The research foundation supporting COT analysis derives primarily from commodity markets where the commercial hedger information advantage is most pronounced. Studies specifically examining financial futures like equity indices and bonds show weaker but still present effects. Traders should calibrate expectations accordingly, recognizing that COT analysis likely works better for crude oil, natural gas, corn, and wheat than for the S&P 500, Treasury bonds, or currency futures.
Another important limitation involves the reporting threshold structure. Not all market participants appear in COT data, only those holding positions above specified minimums. In markets dominated by a few large players, concentration metrics become critical for proper interpretation. A single large trader accounting for thirty percent of commercial positioning might skew the entire category if their individual circumstances are idiosyncratic rather than representative.
GOLD FUTURES DURING A HYPOTHETICAL MARKET CYCLE
Consider a practical example using gold futures during a hypothetical but realistic market scenario that illustrates how the COT Index indicator guides trading decisions through a complete market cycle. Suppose gold has rallied from fifteen hundred to nineteen hundred dollars per ounce over six months, driven by inflation concerns following aggressive monetary expansion, geopolitical uncertainty, and sustained buying by Asian central banks for reserve diversification.
Large speculators, operating primarily trend-following strategies, have accumulated increasingly bullish positions throughout this rally. Their COT Index has climbed progressively from forty-five to eighty-five. The table display shows that large speculators now hold net long positions representing thirty-two percent of total open interest, their highest in four years. Momentum indicators show positive readings, indicating positions are still building though at a decelerating rate. Position velocity has turned negative, suggesting the pace of position building is slowing.
Meanwhile, commercial hedgers have responded to the rally by aggressively selling forward production and inventory. Their COT Index has moved inversely to price, declining from fifty-five to twenty. This bearish commercial positioning represents mining companies locking in forward sales at prices they view as attractive relative to production costs. The table shows commercials now hold net short positions representing twenty-nine percent of total open interest, their most bearish stance in five years. Concentration metrics indicate this positioning is broadly distributed across many commercial entities, suggesting the bearish stance reflects collective industry view rather than idiosyncratic positioning by a single firm.
Small traders, attracted by mainstream financial media coverage of gold's impressive rally, have recently piled into long positions. Their COT Index has jumped from forty-five to seventy-eight as retail investors chase the trend. Television financial networks feature frequent segments on gold with bullish guests. Internet forums and social media show surging retail interest. This retail enthusiasm historically marks late-stage trend development rather than early opportunity.
The COT Index indicator, configured to monitor commercial positioning from a contrarian perspective, displays a clear bearish signal given the extreme commercial short positioning. The table displays multiple confirming metrics: positioning extremity shows commercials at the ninety-sixth percentile of bearishness, market power indicates they control twenty-nine percent of open interest, and sentiment divergence registers sixty-five, indicating massive disagreement between commercial hedgers and large speculators. This divergence, the highest in three years, places the market in the historically high-risk category for reversals.
The interpretation requires nuance and consideration of context beyond just COT data. Commercials are not necessarily predicting an imminent crash. Rather, they are hedging business operations at what they collectively view as favorable price levels. However, the data reveals they have sold unusually large quantities of forward production, suggesting either exceptional production expectations for the year ahead or concern about sustaining current price levels or combination of both. Combined with extreme speculator positioning indicating a crowded long trade, and small trader enthusiasm confirming retail FOMO, the confluence suggests elevated reversal risk even if the precise timing remains uncertain.
A prudent trader analyzing this situation might take several actions based on COT Index signals. Existing long positions could be tightened with closer stop losses. Profit-taking on a portion of long exposure could lock in gains while maintaining some participation. Some traders might initiate modest short positions as portfolio hedges, sizing them appropriately for the inherent uncertainty in timing reversals. Others might simply move to the sidelines, avoiding new long entries until positioning normalizes.
The key lesson from case study analysis is that COT signals provide probabilistic edges rather than deterministic predictions. They work over many observations by identifying higher-probability configurations, not by generating perfect calls on individual trades. A fifty-five percent win rate with proper risk management produces substantial profits over time, yet still means forty-five percent of signals will be premature or wrong. Traders must embrace this probabilistic reality rather than seeking the impossible goal of perfect accuracy.
INTEGRATION WITH TRADING SYSTEMS
Integration with existing trading systems represents a natural and powerful use case for COT analysis, adding a positioning dimension to price-based technical approaches or fundamental analytical frameworks. Few traders rely exclusively on a single indicator or methodology. Rather, they build systems that synthesize multiple information sources, with each component addressing different aspects of market behavior.
Trend followers might use COT extremes as regime filters, modifying position sizing or avoiding new trend entries when positioning reaches levels historically associated with reversals. Consider a classic trend-following system based on moving average crossovers and momentum breakouts. Integration of COT analysis adds nuance. When large speculator positioning exceeds ninety or commercial positioning falls below ten, the regime filter recognizes elevated reversal risk. The system might reduce position sizing by fifty percent for new signals during these high-risk periods (Kaufman, 2013).
Mean reversion traders might require COT signal confluence before fading extended moves. When crude oil becomes technically overbought and large speculators show extreme long positioning above eighty-five, both signals confirm. If only technical indicators show extremes while positioning remains neutral, the potential short signal is rejected, avoiding fades of trends with underlying institutional support (Kaufman, 2013).
Discretionary traders can monitor the indicator as a continuous awareness tool, informing bias and position sizing without dictating mechanical entries and exits. A discretionary trader might notice commercial positioning shifting from neutral to progressively more bullish over several months. This trend informs growing positive bias even without triggering mechanical signals.
Multi-timeframe analysis represents another powerful integration approach. A trader might use daily charts for trade execution and timing while monitoring weekly COT positioning for strategic context. When both timeframes align, highest-probability opportunities emerge.
Portfolio construction for futures traders can incorporate COT signals as an additional selection criterion. Markets showing strong technical setups AND favorable COT positioning receive highest allocations. Markets with strong technicals but neutral or unfavorable positioning receive reduced allocations.
ADVANCED METRICS AND INTERPRETATION
The metrics table transforms simple positioning data into multidimensional market intelligence. Position extremity, calculated as the absolute deviation from the historical mean normalized by standard deviation, helps identify truly unusual readings versus routine fluctuations. A reading above two standard deviations indicates ninety-fifth percentile or higher extremity. Above three standard deviations indicates ninety-ninth percentile or higher, genuinely rare positioning that historically precedes major events with high probability.
Market power, expressed as a percentage of total open interest, reveals whose positioning matters most from a mechanical market impact perspective. Consider two scenarios in gold futures. In scenario one, commercials show a COT Index reading of fifteen while their market power metric shows they hold net shorts representing thirty-five percent of open interest. This is a high-confidence bearish signal. In scenario two, commercials also show a reading of fifteen, but market power shows only eight percent. While positioning is extreme relative to this category's normal range, their limited market share means less mechanical influence on price.
The rate of change and momentum metrics highlight whether positions are accelerating or decelerating, often providing earlier warnings than absolute levels alone. A COT Index reading of seventy-five with rapidly building momentum suggests continued movement toward extremes. Conversely, a reading of eighty-five with decelerating or negative momentum indicates the positioning trend is exhausting.
Position velocity measures the rate of change in positioning changes, effectively a second derivative. When velocity shifts from positive to negative, it indicates that while positioning may still be growing, the pace of growth is slowing. This deceleration often precedes actual reversal in positioning direction by several weeks.
Sentiment divergence calculates the absolute difference between normalized commercial and large speculator index values. When commercials show extreme bearish positioning at twenty while large speculators show extreme bullish positioning at eighty, the divergence reaches sixty, representing near-maximum disagreement. Wang (2003) found that these high-divergence environments frequently preceded increased volatility and reversals. The mechanism is intuitive. Extreme divergence indicates the informed hedgers and momentum-following speculators have positioned opposite each other with conviction. One group will prove correct and profit while the other proves incorrect and suffers losses. The resolution of this disagreement through price movement often involves volatility.
The table also displays concentration metrics when available. High concentration indicates a few dominant players controlling most of the positioning within a category, while low concentration suggests broad-based participation. Broad-based positioning more reliably reflects collective market intelligence and industry consensus. If mining companies globally all independently decide to hedge aggressively at similar price levels, it suggests genuine industry-wide view about price valuations rather than circumstances specific to one firm.
DATA QUALITY AND RELIABILITY
The CFTC has maintained COT reporting in various forms since the nineteen twenties, providing nearly a century of positioning data across multiple market cycles. However, data quality and reporting standards have evolved substantially over this long period. Modern electronic reporting implemented in the late nineteen nineties and early two thousands significantly improved accuracy and timeliness compared to earlier paper-based systems.
Traders should understand that COT reports capture positions as of Tuesday's close each week. Markets remain open three additional days before publication on Friday afternoon, meaning the reported data is three days stale when received. During periods of rapid market movement or major news events, this lag can be significant. The indicator addresses this limitation by including timestamp information and staleness warnings.
The three-day lag creates particular challenges during extreme volatility episodes. Flash crashes, surprise central bank interventions, geopolitical shocks, and other high-impact events can completely transform market positioning within hours. Traders must exercise judgment about whether reported positioning remains relevant given intervening events.
Reporting thresholds also mean that not all market participants appear in disaggregated COT data. Traders holding positions below specified minimums aggregate into the non-reportable or small trader category. This aggregation affects different markets differently. In highly liquid contracts like crude oil with thousands of participants, reportable traders might represent seventy to eighty percent of open interest. In thinly traded contracts with only dozens of active participants, a few large reportable positions might represent ninety-five percent of open interest.
Another data quality consideration involves trader classification into categories. The CFTC assigns traders to commercial or non-commercial categories based on reported business purpose and activities. However, this process is not perfect. Some entities engage in both commercial and speculative activities, creating ambiguity about proper classification. The transition to Disaggregated reports attempted to address some of these ambiguities by creating more granular categories.
COMPARISON WITH ALTERNATIVE APPROACHES
Several alternative approaches to COT analysis exist in the trading community beyond the normalization methodology employed by this indicator. Some analysts focus on absolute position changes week-over-week rather than index-based normalization. This approach calculates the change in net positioning from one week to the next. The emphasis falls on momentum in positioning changes rather than absolute levels relative to history. This method potentially identifies regime shifts earlier but sacrifices cross-market comparability (Briese, 2008).
Other practitioners employ more complex statistical transformations including percentile rankings, z-score standardization, and machine learning classification algorithms. Ruan and Zhang (2018) demonstrated that machine learning models applied to COT data could achieve modest improvements in forecasting accuracy compared to simple threshold-based approaches. However, these gains came at the cost of interpretability and implementation complexity.
The COT Index indicator intentionally employs a relatively straightforward normalization methodology for several important reasons. First, transparency enhances user understanding and trust. Traders can verify calculations manually and develop intuitive feel for what different readings mean. Second, academic research suggests that most of the predictive power in COT data comes from extreme positioning levels rather than subtle patterns requiring complex statistical methods to detect. Third, robust methods that work consistently across many markets and time periods tend to be simpler rather than more complex, reducing the risk of overfitting to historical data. Fourth, the complexity costs of implementation matter for retail traders without programming teams or computational infrastructure.
PSYCHOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF COT TRADING
Trading based on COT data requires psychological fortitude that differs from momentum-based approaches. Contrarian positioning signals inherently mean betting against prevailing market sentiment and recent price action. When commercials reach extreme bearish positioning, prices have typically been rising, sometimes for extended periods. The price chart looks bullish, momentum indicators confirm strength, moving averages align positively. The COT signal says bet against all of this. This psychological difficulty explains why COT analysis remains underutilized relative to trend-following methods.
Human psychology strongly predisposes us toward extrapolation and recency bias. When prices rally for months, our pattern-matching brains naturally expect continued rally. The recent price action dominates our perception, overwhelming rational analysis about positioning extremes and historical probabilities. The COT signal asking us to sell requires overriding these powerful psychological impulses.
The indicator design attempts to support the required psychological discipline through several features. Clear threshold markers and signal states reduce ambiguity about when signals trigger. When the commercial index crosses below twenty, the signal is explicit and unambiguous. The background shifts to red, the signal label displays bearish, and alerts fire. This explicitness helps traders act on signals rather than waiting for additional confirmation that may never arrive.
The metrics table provides analytical justification for contrarian positions, helping traders maintain conviction during inevitable periods of adverse price movement. When a trader enters short positions based on extreme commercial bearish positioning but prices continue rallying for several weeks, doubt naturally emerges. The table display provides reassurance. Commercial positioning remains extremely bearish. Divergence remains high. The positioning thesis remains intact even though price action has not yet confirmed.
Alert functionality ensures traders do not miss signals due to inattention while also not requiring constant monitoring that can lead to emotional decision-making. Setting alerts for COT extremes enables a healthier relationship with markets. When meaningful signals occur, alerts notify them. They can then calmly assess the situation and execute planned responses.
However, no indicator design can completely overcome the psychological difficulty of contrarian trading. Some traders simply cannot maintain short positions while prices rally. For these traders, COT analysis might be better employed as an exit signal for long positions rather than an entry signal for shorts.
Ultimately, successful COT trading requires developing comfort with probabilistic thinking rather than certainty-seeking. The signals work over many observations by identifying higher-probability configurations, not by generating perfect calls on individual trades. A fifty-five or sixty percent win rate with proper risk management produces substantial profits over years, yet still means forty to forty-five percent of signals will be premature or wrong. COT analysis provides genuine edge, but edge means probability advantage, not elimination of losing trades.
EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES AND CONTINUOUS LEARNING
The indicator provides extensive built-in educational resources through its documentation, detailed tooltips, and transparent calculations. However, mastering COT analysis requires study beyond any single tool or resource. Several excellent resources provide valuable extensions of the concepts covered in this guide.
Books and practitioner-focused monographs offer accessible entry points. Stephen Briese published The Commitments of Traders Bible in two thousand eight, offering detailed breakdowns of how different markets and trader categories behave (Briese, 2008). Briese's work stands out for its empirical focus and market-specific insights. Jack Schwager includes discussion of COT analysis within the broader context of market behavior in his book Market Sense and Nonsense (Schwager, 2012). Perry Kaufman's Trading Systems and Methods represents perhaps the most rigorous practitioner-focused text on systematic trading approaches including COT analysis (Kaufman, 2013).
Academic journal articles provide the rigorous statistical foundation underlying COT analysis. The Journal of Futures Markets regularly publishes research on positioning data and its predictive properties. Bessembinder and Chan's earlier work on systematic risk, hedging pressure, and risk premiums in futures markets provides theoretical foundation (Bessembinder, 1992). Chang's examination of speculator returns provides historical context (Chang, 1985). Irwin and Sanders provide essential skeptical perspective in their two thousand twelve article (Irwin and Sanders, 2012). Wang's two thousand three article provides one of the most empirical analyses of COT data across multiple commodity markets (Wang, 2003).
Online resources extend beyond academic and book-length treatments. The CFTC website provides free access to current and historical COT reports in multiple formats. The explanatory materials section offers detailed documentation of report construction, category definitions, and historical methodology changes. Traders serious about COT analysis should read these official CFTC documents to understand exactly what they are analyzing.
Commercial COT data services such as Barchart provide enhanced visualization and analysis tools beyond raw CFTC data. TradingView's educational materials, published scripts library, and user community provide additional resources for exploring different approaches to COT analysis.
The key to mastering COT analysis lies not in finding a single definitive source but rather in building understanding through multiple perspectives and information sources. Academic research provides rigorous empirical foundation. Practitioner-focused books offer practical implementation insights. Direct engagement with data through systematic backtesting develops intuition about how positioning dynamics manifest across different market conditions.
SYNTHESIZING KNOWLEDGE INTO PRACTICE
The COT Index indicator represents the synthesis of academic research, trading experience, and software engineering into a practical tool accessible to retail traders equipped with nothing more than a TradingView account and willingness to learn. What once required expensive data subscriptions, custom programming capabilities, statistical software, and institutional resources now appears as a straightforward indicator requiring only basic parameter selection and modest study to understand. This democratization of institutional-grade analysis tools represents a broader trend in financial markets over recent decades.
Yet technology and data access alone provide no edge without understanding and discipline. Markets remain relentlessly efficient at eliminating edges that become too widely known and mechanically exploited. The COT Index indicator succeeds only when users invest time learning the underlying concepts, understand the limitations and probability distributions involved, and integrate signals thoughtfully into trading plans rather than applying them mechanically.
The academic research demonstrates conclusively that institutional positioning contains genuine information about future price movements, particularly at extremes where commercial hedgers are maximally bearish or bullish relative to historical norms. This informational content is neither perfect nor deterministic but rather probabilistic, providing edge over many observations through identification of higher-probability configurations. Bessembinder and Chan's finding that commercial positioning explained modest but significant variance in future returns illustrates this probabilistic nature perfectly (Bessembinder and Chan, 1992). The effect is real and statistically significant, yet it explains perhaps ten to fifteen percent of return variance rather than most variance. Much of price movement remains unpredictable even with positioning intelligence.
The practical implication is that COT analysis works best as one component of a trading system rather than a standalone oracle. It provides the positioning dimension, revealing where the smart money has positioned and where the crowd has followed, but price action analysis provides the timing dimension. Fundamental analysis provides the catalyst dimension. Risk management provides the survival dimension. These components work together synergistically.
The indicator's design philosophy prioritizes transparency and education over black-box complexity, empowering traders to understand exactly what they are analyzing and why. Every calculation is documented and user-adjustable. The threshold markers, background coloring, tables, and clear signal states provide multiple reinforcing channels for conveying the same information.
This educational approach reflects a conviction that sustainable trading success comes from genuine understanding rather than mechanical system-following. Traders who understand why commercial positioning matters, how different trader categories behave, what positioning extremes signify, and where signals fit within probability distributions can adapt when market conditions change. Traders mechanically following black-box signals without comprehension abandon systems after normal losing streaks.
The research foundation supporting COT analysis comes primarily from commodity markets where commercial hedger informational advantages are most pronounced. Agricultural producers hedging crops know more about supply conditions than distant speculators. Energy companies hedging production know more about operating costs than financial traders. Metals miners hedging output know more about ore grades than index funds. Financial futures markets show weaker but still present effects.
The journey from reading this documentation to profitable trading based on COT analysis involves several stages that cannot be rushed. Initial reading and basic understanding represents the first stage. Historical study represents the second stage, reviewing past market cycles to observe how positioning extremes preceded major turning points. Paper trading or small-size real trading represents the third stage to experience the psychological challenges. Refinement based on results and personal psychology represents the fourth stage.
Markets will continue evolving. New participant categories will emerge. Regulatory structures will change. Technology will advance. Yet the fundamental dynamics driving COT analysis, that different market participants have different information, different motivations, and different forecasting abilities that manifest in their positioning, will persist as long as futures markets exist. While specific thresholds or optimal parameters may shift over time, the core logic remains sound and adaptable.
The trader equipped with this indicator, understanding of the theory and evidence behind COT analysis, realistic expectations about probability rather than certainty, discipline to maintain positions through adverse volatility, and patience to allow signals time to develop possesses genuine edge in markets. The edge is not enormous, markets cannot allow large persistent inefficiencies without arbitraging them away, but it is real, measurable, and exploitable by those willing to invest in learning and disciplined application.
REFERENCES
Bessembinder, H. (1992) Systematic risk, hedging pressure, and risk premiums in futures markets, Review of Financial Studies, 5(4), pp. 637-667.
Bessembinder, H. and Chan, K. (1992) The profitability of technical trading rules in the Asian stock markets, Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, 3(2-3), pp. 257-284.
Briese, S. (2008) The Commitments of Traders Bible: How to Profit from Insider Market Intelligence. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons.
Chang, E.C. (1985) Returns to speculators and the theory of normal backwardation, Journal of Finance, 40(1), pp. 193-208.
Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) (2009) Explanatory Notes: Disaggregated Commitments of Traders Report. Available at: www.cftc.gov (Accessed: 15 January 2025).
Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) (2020) Commitments of Traders: About the Report. Available at: www.cftc.gov (Accessed: 15 January 2025).
Irwin, S.H. and Sanders, D.R. (2012) Testing the Masters Hypothesis in commodity futures markets, Energy Economics, 34(1), pp. 256-269.
Kaufman, P.J. (2013) Trading Systems and Methods. 5th edn. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons.
Ruan, Y. and Zhang, Y. (2018) Forecasting commodity futures prices using machine learning: Evidence from the Chinese commodity futures market, Applied Economics Letters, 25(12), pp. 845-849.
Sanders, D.R., Boris, K. and Manfredo, M. (2004) Hedgers, funds, and small speculators in the energy futures markets: an analysis of the CFTC's Commitments of Traders reports, Energy Economics, 26(3), pp. 425-445.
Schwager, J.D. (2012) Market Sense and Nonsense: How the Markets Really Work and How They Don't. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons.
Tharp, V.K. (2008) Super Trader: Make Consistent Profits in Good and Bad Markets. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Wang, C. (2003) The behavior and performance of major types of futures traders, Journal of Futures Markets, 23(1), pp. 1-31.
Williams, L.R. and Noseworthy, M. (2009) The Right Stock at the Right Time: Prospering in the Coming Good Years. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons.
FURTHER READING
For traders seeking to deepen their understanding of COT analysis and futures market positioning beyond this documentation, the following resources provide valuable extensions:
Academic Journal Articles:
Fishe, R.P.H. and Smith, A. (2012) Do speculators drive commodity prices away from supply and demand fundamentals?, Journal of Commodity Markets, 1(1), pp. 1-16.
Haigh, M.S., Hranaiova, J. and Overdahl, J.A. (2007) Hedge funds, volatility, and liquidity provision in energy futures markets, Journal of Alternative Investments, 9(4), pp. 10-38.
Kocagil, A.E. (1997) Does futures speculation stabilize spot prices? Evidence from metals markets, Applied Financial Economics, 7(1), pp. 115-125.
Sanders, D.R. and Irwin, S.H. (2011) The impact of index funds in commodity futures markets: A systems approach, Journal of Alternative Investments, 14(1), pp. 40-49.
Books and Practitioner Resources:
Murphy, J.J. (1999) Technical Analysis of the Financial Markets: A Guide to Trading Methods and Applications. New York: New York Institute of Finance.
Pring, M.J. (2002) Technical Analysis Explained: The Investor's Guide to Spotting Investment Trends and Turning Points. 4th edn. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Federal Reserve and Research Institution Publications:
Federal Reserve Banks regularly publish working papers examining commodity markets, futures positioning, and price discovery mechanisms. The Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco and Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City maintain active research programs in this area.
Online Resources:
The CFTC website provides free access to current and historical COT reports, explanatory materials, and regulatory documentation.
Barchart offers enhanced COT data visualization and screening tools.
TradingView's community library contains numerous published scripts and educational materials exploring different approaches to positioning analysis.
Trappin Previous Timeframe LevelsTrappin Previous Timeframe Levels (Trappin PTL)
Overview
Trappin PTL is a comprehensive multi-timeframe support and resistance indicator that displays key price levels from multiple timeframes on a single chart. This indicator helps traders identify critical price zones where reversals or breakouts are likely to occur, making it ideal for both intraday and swing trading strategies.
💡 Origin Story
I got tired of manually drawing these lines that I learned from watching Wallstreet Trapper on Trappin Tuesdays YouTube live streams. After repeatedly marking the same previous timeframe levels on every chart, I decided to automate the process. Hope it helps you as much as it helps me!
Key Features
📊 Multiple Timeframe Levels
The indicator tracks and displays high/low levels from:
Previous Hour (PHH/PHL) - Purple lines
Previous Day (PDH/PDL) - Green lines
Previous Week (PWH/PWL) - Yellow lines
Previous Month (PMH/PML) - Blue lines
All-Time High (ATH) - Red line
52-Week High - Orange line
🎨 Fully Customizable
Colors - Change the color of each timeframe independently
Line Styles - Choose between Solid, Dashed, or Dotted lines
Line Widths - Adjust thickness from 1-4 pixels
All settings organized in intuitive groups for easy access
📍 Smart Line Extension
Lines extend back to show when the level was established
Lines project forward to show current relevance
Historical context helps identify key support/resistance zones
🏷️ Clear Price Labels
Each level displays its exact price value (no currency symbols)
Labels positioned horizontally to avoid overlap
Adaptive text color for visibility on any chart theme (dark or light mode)
Why "Trappin"?
The name is a tribute to Wallstreet Trapper and his Trappin Tuesdays YouTube live streams, where I learned the importance of marking previous timeframe levels. The name also reflects the indicator's purpose: identifying price levels where traders often get "trapped" - whether it's bulls getting trapped below resistance or bears getting trapped above support. These levels represent zones where significant order flow and liquidity exist, making them prime areas for reversals or breakouts.
Credits
Created by resoh
Inspired by Wallstreet Trapper and Trappin Tuesdays YouTube live streams
This indicator is provided for educational and informational purposes. Always practice proper risk management and conduct your own analysis before making trading decisions.
Version History
v1.0 - Initial Release
Multi-timeframe high/low levels
All-time high tracking
52-week high tracking
Fully customizable colors, styles, and widths
Adaptive labels with price display
Smart line extension showing historical context
Tokyo Session DivisionsTokyo Session Divisions
Description:
Asia Range Breakout is a sophisticated, multi-filter trading tool designed to identify high-probability breakout opportunities during the core Asian trading session. By combining session-based range analysis with advanced confirmation filters like Heiken Ashi momentum, Ichimoku baseline trends, and EMA alignment, this indicator helps traders capture decisive moves while filtering out market noise.
Tired of false breakouts? This system provides a structured framework to trade the Sydney and Tokyo sessions with precision and confidence.
Key Features:
Multi-Session Range Tracking:
Monitors 6 distinct pre-defined Asian sessions (Sydney Box, Tokyo Pre-Open, Tokyo Launch, etc.).
Dynamically plots High and Low boundaries for each session (Teal for Highs, Red for Lows).
Individually toggleable sessions to focus on your preferred trading window.
Smart Alert & Signal System:
Generates alerts based on Heiken Ashi candle closings relative to session ranges.
Dual-Size Signals: Differentiates between "Large" breakouts (outside the range) and "Small" signals (within the range).
Configurable alert timeframe for confirmation candle closure.Built-in Sound Alerts for real-time notifications.
Advanced Confirmation Filters:
Heiken Ashi Momentum Filter: Ensures breakout candles have significant momentum, adjustable via a threshold multiplier.
EMA 200 Filter: Confirms the breakout's alignment with the broader trend.
Ichimoku Baseline (Kijun-sen) Filter: Uses a dynamic support/resistance level for additional confirmation.
Ichimoku Baseline Divergence Filter: A unique feature that requires the baseline's slope to match the breakout direction (Bullish for buys, Bearish for sells).
ATR Volatility Filter: (Optional) Ensures the breakout candle has sufficient range relative to recent market volatility.
Visual Enhancements:
Take-Profit Lines: Projects profit targets using ATR and connects consecutive alerts with a trendline.
Heiken Ashi Overlay: Displays smoothed Heiken Ashi candles directly on the main chart for cleaner trend visualization.
Divergence Trend Line: Visually plots the slope of the Ichimoku Baseline for quick trend assessment.
Session Background Highlighter: Shades the active sessions for easy time reference.
Comprehensive Debug Info Box: Provides real-time feedback on filter status, perfect for strategy validation and learning.
Usage Instructions & Tips:
1. Initial Setup:
Start simple! Apply the indicator to a 5-minute or 1-minute chart.
Recommended Instruments:
Forex: Major pairs like AUD/USD , USD/JPY or EUR/JPY.
Indices: `NAS100` (Nasdaq), `US30` (Dow Jones), `JP225` (Nikkei 225).
Commodities: `XAUUSD` (Gold).
Initially, enable only the Sydney Box (00:30 - 03:15 UTC) as it is the most robust session, then explore others.
2. Interpreting the Signals:
Large Green Arrow (Above Bar): A strong BUY signal. The Heiken Ashi candle closed above the session's High, and all enabled filters are confirmed.
Small Green Arrow (Above Bar): A moderate BUY signal. The candle closed bullishly but within the session range.
Large Red Arrow (Below Bar): A strong SELL signal. The Heiken Ashi candle closed below the session's Low, with filter confirmation.
Small Red Arrow (Below Bar): A moderate SELL signal. The candle closed bearishly but within the session range.
3. Optimizing Your Strategy:
Filter Tuning: The default filters are balanced. Adjust them based on your risk appetite:
Increase the Heiken Ashi Threshold (e.g., to 0.2) for fewer, but stronger signals.
Disable filters like ATR or Divergence if you find them too restrictive.
The Power of Divergence: The Ichimoku Divergence filter is a powerful trend-confirmation tool. Pay close attention to it for the highest-quality signals.
Use the Debug Box: Enable the "Show Debug Info Box" to see exactly why a signal did or did not trigger. This is invaluable for understanding the indicator's logic and avoiding bad trades.
4. Risk Management:
The TP Lines provide a logical profit target based on market volatility. Consider using them for setting take-profit orders.
Always use a stop-loss. A logical level is the opposite side of the session range (e.g., for a buy signal, place a stop below the session low).
Lodon Session DivisionsLondon Session Divisions - Situational Analysis Mastery
Professional Breakout & Trend-Following Strategy Based on Tom Hougaard's Situational Analysis
🎯 WHAT IS THIS INDICATOR?
A sophisticated multi-timeframe breakout scanner designed for European trading sessions, implementing the powerful "Situational Analysis" methodology from renowned trader Tom Hougaard. This professional tool identifies high-probability breakout opportunities with comprehensive filter systems to ensure quality signals.
⭐ KEY FEATURES
🏛️ SESSION-BASED TRADING
- European Overnight Range
- London Pre-Open & First Breakouts
- Tokyo Box & London Launch Sessions
- Smart Session Detection with Auto-DST
🎯 ENHANCED CONDITIONS
- School Run Strategy (SRS) by Tom Hougaard
- Anti-SRS Filter for counter-trend opportunities
- Session-specific logic for optimal entry timing
🛡️ ADVANCED FILTER SYSTEMS
- Heiken Ashi Momentum Confirmation
- EMA 200 Trend Filter
- Ichimoku Baseline & Divergence
- RSI Threshold Filter
- ATR Volatility Filter
- Multi-timeframe Compatibility
⚡ SMART ALERTS & VISUALS
- Multi-timeframe Alert Confirmation
- Breakout Size Detection (Beyond/Within Range)
- Take Profit Levels with ATR Calculation
- Customizable Visual Markers
- Enhanced Alert Messages with Filter Status
📈 OPTIMIZED FOR
- GERMAN DAX ⚡
- OIL & GOLD 🛢️
- NIKKEI 🇯🇵
- US30 & NASDAQ 🇺🇸
- All Major Indices & Commodities
🔧 CORE STRATEGY PHILOSOPHY
This indicator embodies Tom Hougaard's Situational Analysis approach :
- Identify the Situation : Market context through session analysis
- Define the Action : Clear breakout levels and ranges
- Execute with Precision : Filtered, high-quality signals
- Manage the Trade : Built-in TP levels and size detection
🎨 CUSTOMIZATION OPTIONS
Session Management
- Toggle individual trading sessions
- Smart session auto-disable with SRS/Anti-SRS
- Customizable session times
Filter Controls
- Enable/disable all filter systems independently
- Adjustable timeframe for each filter
- Custom threshold settings
Visual Preferences
- Heiken Ashi overlay display
- Breakout marker styles and colors
- TP line customization
- Debug information panel
📊 HOW TO USE
1. SETUP : Apply to your preferred instrument (DAX, Oil, Gold, etc.)
2. CONFIGURE : Enable your preferred sessions and filters
3. MONITOR : Watch for breakout markers during active sessions
4. EXECUTE : Enter on confirmed breakouts with filter alignment
5. MANAGE : Use built-in TP levels or your own risk management
⚠️ RISK DISCLAIMER
This indicator is for educational and informational purposes only. Trading involves substantial risk and is not suitable for every investor. Always practice proper risk management and backtest strategies before live trading. Past performance is not indicative of future results.
🔒 TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS
- Platform : TradingView Pine Script v6
- Compatibility : All timeframes
- Markets : Forex, Indices, Commodities, Stocks
- Updates : Regular improvements and bug fixes
📞 SUPPORT & UPDATES
Regular updates based on user feedback and market changes. For suggestions or issues, please comment on the publication.
⭐ If this indicator helps your trading, please like and follow for more advanced tools! ⭐
Why Traders Love This Indicator:
✅ Comprehensive Filter System reduces false signals
✅ Session-Based Logic aligns with professional trading hours
✅ Multiple Timeframe Analysis for confirmation
✅ Customizable for Any Trading Style
✅ Professional-Grade Risk Management Tools
Boost your breakout trading profitability with institutional-grade session analysis!
Lorentzian Harmonic Flow - Temporal Market Dynamic Lorentzian Harmonic Flow - Temporal Market Dynamic (⚡LHF)
By: DskyzInvestments
What this is
LHF Pro is a research‑grade analytical instrument that models market time as a compressible medium , extracts directional flow in curved time using heavy‑tailed kernels, and consults a history‑based memory bank for context before synthesizing a final, bounded probabilistic score . It is not a mashup; each subsystem is mathematically coupled to a single clock (time dilation via gamma) and a single lens (Lorentzian heavy‑tailed weighting). This script is dense in logic (and therefore heavy) because it prioritizes rigor, interpretability, and visual clarity.
Intended use
Education and research. This tool expresses state recognition and regime context—not guarantees. It does not place orders. It is fully functional as published and contains no placeholders. Nothing herein is financial advice.
Why this is original and useful
Curved time: Markets do not move at a constant pace. LHF Pro computes a Lorentz‑style gamma (γ) from relative speed so its analytical windows contract when the tape accelerates and relax when it slows.
Heavy‑tailed lens: Lorentzian kernels weight information with fat tails to respect rare but consequential extremes (unlike Gaussian decay).
Memory of regimes: A K‑nearest‑neighbors engine works in a multi‑feature space using Lorentz kernels per dimension and exponential age fade , returning a memory bias (directional expectation) and assurance (confidence mass).
One ecosystem: Squeeze, TCI, flow, acceleration, and memory live on the same clock and blend into a single final_score —visualized and documented on the dashboard.
Cognitive map: A 2D heat map projects memory resonance by age and flow regime, making “where the past is speaking” visible.
Shadow portfolio metaphor: Neighbor outcomes act like tiny hypothetical positions whose weighted average forms an educational pressure gauge (no execution, purely didactic).
Mathematical framework (full transparency)
1) Returns, volatility, and speed‑of‑market
Log return: rₜ = ln(closeₜ / closeₜ₋₁)
Realized vol: rv = stdev(r, vol_len); vol‑of‑vol: burst = |rv − rv |
Speed‑of‑market (analog to c): c = c_multiplier × (EMA(rv) + 0.5 × EMA(burst) + ε)
2) Trend velocity and Lorentz gamma (time dilation)
Trend velocity: v = |close − close | / (vel_len × ATR)
Relative speed: v_rel = v / c
Gamma: γ = 1 / √(1 − v_rel²), stabilized by caps (e.g., ≤10)
Interpretation: γ > 1 compresses market time → use shorter effective windows.
3) Adaptive temporal scale
Adaptive length: L = base_len / γ^power (bounded for safety)
Harmonic horizons: Lₛ = L × short_ratio, Lₘ = L × mid_ratio, Lₗ = L × long_ratio
4) Lorentzian smoothing and Harmonic Flow
Kernel weight per lag i: wᵢ = 1 / (1 + (d/γ)²), d = i/L
Horizon baselines: lw_h = Σ wᵢ·price / Σ wᵢ
Z‑deviation: z_h = (close − lw_h)/ATR
Harmonic Flow (HFL): HFL = (w_short·zₛ + w_mid·zₘ + w_long·zₗ) / (w_short + w_mid + w_long)
5) Flow kinematics
Velocity: HFL_vel = HFL − HFL
Acceleration (curvature): HFL_acc = HFL − 2·HFL + HFL
6) Squeeze and temporal compression
Bollinger width vs Keltner width using L
Squeeze: BB_width < KC_width × squeeze_mult
Temporal Compression Index: TCI = base_len / L; TCI > 1 ⇒ compressed time
7) Entropy (regime complexity)
Shannon‑inspired proxy on |log returns| with numerical safeguards and smoothing. Higher entropy → more chaotic regime.
8) Memory bank and Lorentzian k‑NN
Feature vector (5D):
Outcomes stored: forward returns at H5, H13, H34
Per‑dimension similarity: k(Δ) = 1 / (1 + Δ²), weighted by user’s feature weights
Age fading: weight_age = mem_fade^age_bars
Neighbor score: sᵢ = similarityᵢ × weight_ageᵢ
Memory bias: mem_bias = Σ sᵢ·outcomeᵢ / Σ sᵢ
Assurance: mem_assurance = Σ sᵢ (confidence mass)
Normalization: mem_bias normalized by ATR and clamped into band
Shadow portfolio metaphor: neighbors behave like micro‑positions; their weighted net forward return becomes a continuous, adaptive expectation.
9) Blended score and breakout proxy
Blend factor: α_mem = 0.45 + 0.15 × (γ − 1)
Final score: final_score = (1−α_mem)·tanh(HFL / (flow_thr·1.5)) + α_mem·tanh(mem_bias_norm)
Breakout probability (bounded): energy = cap(TCI−1) + |HFL_acc|×k + cap(γ−1)×k + cap(mem_assurance)×k; breakout_prob = sigmoid(energy). Caps avoid runaway “100%” readings.
Inputs — every control, purpose, mechanics, and tuning
🔮 Lorentz Core
Auto‑Adapt (Vol/Entropy): On = L responds to γ and entropy (breathes with regime), Off = static testing.
Base Length: Calm‑market anchor horizon. Lower (21–28) for fast tapes; higher (55–89+) for slow.
Velocity Window (vel_len): Bars used in v. Shorter = more reactive γ; longer = steadier.
Volatility Window (vol_len): Bars used for rv/burst (c). Shorter = more sensitive c.
Speed‑of‑Market Multiplier (c_multiplier): Raises/lowers c. Lower values → easier γ spikes (more adaptation). Aim for strong trends to peak around γ ≈ 2–4.
Gamma Compression Power: Exponent of γ in L. <1 softens; >1 amplifies adaptation swings.
Max Kernel Span: Upper bound on smoothing loop (quality vs CPU).
🎼 Harmonic Flow
Short/Mid/Long Horizon Ratios: Partition L into fast/medium/slow views. Smaller short_ratio → faster reaction; larger long_ratio → sturdier bias.
Weights (w_short/w_mid/w_long): Governs HFL blend. Higher w_short → nimble; higher w_long → stable.
📈 Signals
Squeeze Strictness: Threshold for BB1 = compressed (coiled spring); <1 = dilated.
v/c: Relative speed; near 1 denotes extreme pacing. Diagnostic only.
Entropy: Regime complexity; high entropy suggests caution, smaller size, or waiting for order to return.
HFL: Curved‑time directional flow; sign and magnitude are the instantaneous bias.
HFL_acc: Curvature; spikes often accompany regime ignition post‑squeeze.
Mem Bias: Directional expectation from historical analogs (ATR‑normalized, bounded). Aligns or conflicts with HFL.
Assurance: Confidence mass from neighbors; higher → more reliable memory bias.
Squeeze: ON/RELEASE/OFF from BB
Bollinger Band ToolkitBollinger Band Toolkit
An advanced, adaptive Bollinger Band system for traders who want more context, precision, and edge.
This indicator expands on the classic Bollinger Bands by combining statistical and volatility-based methods with modern divergence and squeeze detection tools. It helps identify volatility regimes, potential breakouts, and early momentum shifts — all within one clean overlay.
🔹 Core Features
1. Adaptive Bollinger Bands (σ + ATR)
Classic 20-period bands enhanced with an ATR-based volatility adjustment, making them more responsive to true market movement rather than just price variance.
Reduces “overreacting” during chop and avoids bands collapsing too tightly during trends.
2. %B & RSI Divergence Detection
🟢 Green dots: Positive %B divergence — price makes a lower low, but %B doesn’t confirm (bullish).
🔴 Red dots: Negative %B divergence — price makes a higher high, but %B doesn’t confirm (bearish).
✚ Red/green crosses: RSI divergence confirmation — momentum fails to confirm the price’s new extreme.
These signals highlight potential reversal or slowdown zones that are often invisible to the naked eye.
3. Bollinger Band Squeeze (with Volume Filter)
Yellow squares (■) show periods when Bollinger Bands are at their narrowest relative to recent history.
Volume confirmation ensures the squeeze only triggers when both volatility and participation contract.
Often marks the “calm before the storm” — breakout potential zones.
4. Multi-Timeframe Breakout Markers
Optionally displays breakouts from higher or lower timeframes using different colors/symbols.
Lets you see when a higher timeframe band break aligns with your current chart — a strong trend continuation signal.
5. Dual- and Triple-Band Visualization (±1σ, ±2σ, ±3σ)
Optional inner (±1σ) and outer (±3σ) bands provide a layered volatility map:
Price holding between ±1σ → stable range / mean-reverting behavior
Price riding near ±2σ → trending phase, sustained momentum
Price touching or exceeding ±3σ → volatility expansion or exhaustion zone
This triple-band layout visually distinguishes normal movement from statistical extremes, helping you read when the market is balanced, expanding, or approaching its limits.
⚙️ Inputs & Customization
Choose band type (SMA/EMA/SMMA/WMA/VWMA)
Adjust deviation multiplier (σ) and ATR multiplier
Toggle individual features (divergence dots, squeeze markers, inner bands, etc.)
Multi-timeframe and colour controls for advanced users
🧠 How to Use
Watch for squeeze markers followed by a breakout bar beyond ±2σ → volatility expansion signal.
Combine divergence dots with RSI or price structure to anticipate slowdowns or reversals.
Confirm direction using multi-timeframe breakouts and volume expansion.
💬 Why It Works
This toolkit transforms qualitative chart reading (tight bands, hidden divergence) into quantitative, testable conditions — giving you objective insights that can be backtested, coded, or simply trusted in live setups.
DTM 444 BANDS 🚀DTM 444 BANDS 🚀:
The DTM 444 BANDS 🚀 is a powerful, multi-purpose trading indicator combining Supertrend, Dynamic Band Levels, Breakout Signals, and Volume Confirmation to help traders identify high-probability trade setups across different timeframes.
🔧 Key Features
✅ Multi-Timeframe Support
Analyze price action across any timeframe using the Timeframe input.
All band calculations (High, Low, Midline, and Supertrend) are pulled from a higher timeframe for clearer context.
✅ Dynamic Bands Based on Supertrend
High Band: Rolling highest of Supertrend over hiLen period.
Low Band: Rolling lowest of Supertrend over loLen period.
Midline: Midpoint of the above.
Acts like dynamic support/resistance, ideal for trend-following and breakout strategies.
✅ Dual Signal System
Breakout Signals (Buy and Sell): Triggered when price breaks the bands with volume confirmation.
Supertrend Crossover Signals (Buy1 and Sell1): Classic momentum entries with a confirmation twist.
Exit Signals: Optional take-profit/neutral indicators when price reverses.
✅ Volume Confirmation Filter (Optional)
Only triggers signals if the volume exceeds its 20-period SMA.
Helps filter out false breakouts and weak trends in low-liquidity periods.
✅ Visual Enhancements
Color-coded candles based on band positioning (e.g., red = weak, green = strong, etc.)
On-chart labels for each signal for quick reference.
Real-time Signal Dashboard using Pine Script tables showing:
Current signal
Volume filter status
Live volume vs volume SMA
🧪 Practical Use Cases
Trend Traders: Use the Supertrend cross and band breakouts to ride trends early.
Breakout Traders: Catch high-probability moves outside established ranges.
Swing Traders: Time entries and exits using color-coded bars and exit labels.
Volume-Sensitive Traders: Focus on trades with strong volume backing.
📊 Backtest Snapshot
Based on the example chart for Reliance Industries (RELIANCE.NS) on the weekly timeframe:
Several profitable buy and breakout signals during uptrends.
Timely exits and breakdown alerts before reversals.
Volume filter keeps trades clean and avoids noise.
⚙️ Customizable Parameters
High Length and Low Length (default: 19)
Supertrend Multiplier and ATR Length
Volume Filter: Toggle ON/OFF
Volume SMA Length: Default 20
Custom Timeframe: Choose any higher timeframe for multi-timeframe analysis
📢 Alerts Ready
Fully integrated with TradingView alerts:
Breakout & Breakdown
Supertrend crossovers
All alerts respect the volume filter setting
🏁 Final Thoughts
DTM 444 BANDS 🚀 is a versatile and adaptive trading system that blends trend analysis, volatility bands, and volume validation. Whether you're a trend trader, breakout hunter, or swing trader — this tool gives you a structured edge with clear visual cues and real-time alerts.
BOCS Channel Scalper Indicator - Mean Reversion Alert System# BOCS Channel Scalper Indicator - Mean Reversion Alert System
## WHAT THIS INDICATOR DOES:
This is a mean reversion trading indicator that identifies consolidation channels through volatility analysis and generates alert signals when price enters entry zones near channel boundaries. **This indicator version is designed for manual trading with comprehensive alert functionality.** Unlike automated strategies, this tool sends notifications (via popup, email, SMS, or webhook) when trading opportunities occur, allowing you to manually review and execute trades. The system assumes price will revert to the channel mean, identifying scalp opportunities as price reaches extremes and preparing to bounce back toward center.
## INDICATOR VS STRATEGY - KEY DISTINCTION:
**This is an INDICATOR with alerts, not an automated strategy.** It does not execute trades automatically. Instead, it:
- Displays visual signals on your chart when entry conditions are met
- Sends customizable alerts to your device/email when opportunities arise
- Shows TP/SL levels for reference but does not place orders
- Requires you to manually enter and exit positions based on signals
- Works with all TradingView subscription levels (alerts included on all plans)
**For automated trading with backtesting**, use the strategy version. For manual control with notifications, use this indicator version.
## ALERT CAPABILITIES:
This indicator includes four distinct alert conditions that can be configured independently:
**1. New Channel Formation Alert**
- Triggers when a fresh BOCS channel is identified
- Message: "New BOCS channel formed - potential scalp setup ready"
- Use this to prepare for upcoming trading opportunities
**2. Long Scalp Entry Alert**
- Fires when price touches the long entry zone
- Message includes current price, calculated TP, and SL levels
- Notification example: "LONG scalp signal at 24731.75 | TP: 24743.2 | SL: 24716.5"
**3. Short Scalp Entry Alert**
- Fires when price touches the short entry zone
- Message includes current price, calculated TP, and SL levels
- Notification example: "SHORT scalp signal at 24747.50 | TP: 24735.0 | SL: 24762.75"
**4. Any Entry Signal Alert**
- Combined alert for both long and short entries
- Use this if you want a single alert stream for all opportunities
- Message: "BOCS Scalp Entry: at "
**Setting Up Alerts:**
1. Add indicator to chart and configure settings
2. Click the Alert (⏰) button in TradingView toolbar
3. Select "BOCS Channel Scalper" from condition dropdown
4. Choose desired alert type (Long, Short, Any, or Channel Formation)
5. Set "Once Per Bar Close" to avoid false signals during bar formation
6. Configure delivery method (popup, email, webhook for automation platforms)
7. Save alert - it will fire automatically when conditions are met
**Alert Message Placeholders:**
Alerts use TradingView's dynamic placeholder system:
- {{ticker}} = Symbol name (e.g., NQ1!)
- {{close}} = Current price at signal
- {{plot_1}} = Calculated take profit level
- {{plot_2}} = Calculated stop loss level
These placeholders populate automatically, creating detailed notification messages without manual configuration.
## KEY DIFFERENCE FROM ORIGINAL BOCS:
**This indicator is designed for traders seeking higher trade frequency.** The original BOCS indicator trades breakouts OUTSIDE channels, waiting for price to escape consolidation before entering. This scalper version trades mean reversion INSIDE channels, entering when price reaches channel extremes and betting on a bounce back to center. The result is significantly more trading opportunities:
- **Original BOCS**: 1-3 signals per channel (only on breakout)
- **Scalper Indicator**: 5-15+ signals per channel (every touch of entry zones)
- **Trade Style**: Mean reversion vs trend following
- **Hold Time**: Seconds to minutes vs minutes to hours
- **Best Markets**: Ranging/choppy conditions vs trending breakouts
This makes the indicator ideal for active day traders who want continuous alert opportunities within consolidation zones rather than waiting for breakout confirmation. However, increased signal frequency also means higher potential commission costs and requires disciplined trade selection when acting on alerts.
## TECHNICAL METHODOLOGY:
### Price Normalization Process:
The indicator normalizes price data to create consistent volatility measurements across different instruments and price levels. It calculates the highest high and lowest low over a user-defined lookback period (default 100 bars). Current close price is normalized using: (close - lowest_low) / (highest_high - lowest_low), producing values between 0 and 1 for standardized volatility analysis.
### Volatility Detection:
A 14-period standard deviation is applied to the normalized price series to measure price deviation from the mean. Higher standard deviation values indicate volatility expansion; lower values indicate consolidation. The indicator uses ta.highestbars() and ta.lowestbars() to identify when volatility peaks and troughs occur over the detection period (default 14 bars).
### Channel Formation Logic:
When volatility crosses from a high level to a low level (ta.crossover(upper, lower)), a consolidation phase begins. The indicator tracks the highest and lowest prices during this period, which become the channel boundaries. Minimum duration of 10+ bars is required to filter out brief volatility spikes. Channels are rendered as box objects with defined upper and lower boundaries, with colored zones indicating entry areas.
### Entry Signal Generation:
The indicator uses immediate touch-based entry logic. Entry zones are defined as a percentage from channel edges (default 20%):
- **Long Entry Zone**: Bottom 20% of channel (bottomBound + channelRange × 0.2)
- **Short Entry Zone**: Top 20% of channel (topBound - channelRange × 0.2)
Long signals trigger when candle low touches or enters the long entry zone. Short signals trigger when candle high touches or enters the short entry zone. Visual markers (arrows and labels) appear on chart, and configured alerts fire immediately.
### Cooldown Filter:
An optional cooldown period (measured in bars) prevents alert spam by enforcing minimum spacing between consecutive signals. If cooldown is set to 3 bars, no new long alert will fire until 3 bars after the previous long signal. Long and short cooldowns are tracked independently, allowing both directions to signal within the same period.
### ATR Volatility Filter:
The indicator includes a multi-timeframe ATR filter to avoid alerts during low-volatility conditions. Using request.security(), it fetches ATR values from a specified timeframe (e.g., 1-minute ATR while viewing 5-minute charts). The filter compares current ATR to a user-defined minimum threshold:
- If ATR ≥ threshold: Alerts enabled
- If ATR < threshold: No alerts fire
This prevents notifications during dead zones where mean reversion is unreliable due to insufficient price movement. The ATR status is displayed in the info table with visual confirmation (✓ or ✗).
### Take Profit Calculation:
Two TP methods are available:
**Fixed Points Mode**:
- Long TP = Entry + (TP_Ticks × syminfo.mintick)
- Short TP = Entry - (TP_Ticks × syminfo.mintick)
**Channel Percentage Mode**:
- Long TP = Entry + (ChannelRange × TP_Percent)
- Short TP = Entry - (ChannelRange × TP_Percent)
Default 50% targets the channel midline, a natural mean reversion target. These levels are displayed as visual lines with labels and included in alert messages for reference when manually placing orders.
### Stop Loss Placement:
Stop losses are calculated just outside the channel boundary by a user-defined tick offset:
- Long SL = ChannelBottom - (SL_Offset_Ticks × syminfo.mintick)
- Short SL = ChannelTop + (SL_Offset_Ticks × syminfo.mintick)
This logic assumes channel breaks invalidate the mean reversion thesis. SL levels are displayed on chart and included in alert notifications as suggested stop placement.
### Channel Breakout Management:
Channels are removed when price closes more than 10 ticks outside boundaries. This tolerance prevents premature channel deletion from minor breaks or wicks, allowing the mean reversion setup to persist through small boundary violations.
## INPUT PARAMETERS:
### Channel Settings:
- **Nested Channels**: Allow multiple overlapping channels vs single channel
- **Normalization Length**: Lookback for high/low calculation (1-500, default 100)
- **Box Detection Length**: Period for volatility detection (1-100, default 14)
### Scalping Settings:
- **Enable Long Scalps**: Toggle long alert generation on/off
- **Enable Short Scalps**: Toggle short alert generation on/off
- **Entry Zone % from Edge**: Size of entry zone (5-50%, default 20%)
- **SL Offset (Ticks)**: Distance beyond channel for stop (1+, default 5)
- **Cooldown Period (Bars)**: Minimum spacing between alerts (0 = no cooldown)
### ATR Filter:
- **Enable ATR Filter**: Toggle volatility filter on/off
- **ATR Timeframe**: Source timeframe for ATR (1, 5, 15, 60 min, etc.)
- **ATR Length**: Smoothing period (1-100, default 14)
- **Min ATR Value**: Threshold for alert enablement (0.1+, default 10.0)
### Take Profit Settings:
- **TP Method**: Choose Fixed Points or % of Channel
- **TP Fixed (Ticks)**: Static distance in ticks (1+, default 30)
- **TP % of Channel**: Dynamic target as channel percentage (10-100%, default 50%)
### Appearance:
- **Show Entry Zones**: Toggle zone labels on channels
- **Show Info Table**: Display real-time indicator status
- **Table Position**: Corner placement (Top Left/Right, Bottom Left/Right)
- **Long Color**: Customize long signal color (default: darker green for readability)
- **Short Color**: Customize short signal color (default: red)
- **TP/SL Colors**: Customize take profit and stop loss line colors
- **Line Length**: Visual length of TP/SL reference lines (5-200 bars)
## VISUAL INDICATORS:
- **Channel boxes** with semi-transparent fill showing consolidation zones
- **Colored entry zones** labeled "LONG ZONE ▲" and "SHORT ZONE ▼"
- **Entry signal arrows** below/above bars marking long/short alerts
- **TP/SL reference lines** with emoji labels (⊕ Entry, 🎯 TP, 🛑 SL)
- **Info table** showing channel status, last signal, entry/TP/SL prices, risk/reward ratio, and ATR filter status
- **Visual confirmation** when alerts fire via on-chart markers synchronized with notifications
## HOW TO USE:
### For 1-3 Minute Scalping with Alerts (NQ/ES):
- ATR Timeframe: "1" (1-minute)
- ATR Min Value: 10.0 (for NQ), adjust per instrument
- Entry Zone %: 20-25%
- TP Method: Fixed Points, 20-40 ticks
- SL Offset: 5-10 ticks
- Cooldown: 2-3 bars to reduce alert spam
- **Alert Setup**: Configure "Any Entry Signal" for combined long/short notifications
- **Execution**: When alert fires, verify chart visuals, then manually place limit order at entry zone with provided TP/SL levels
### For 5-15 Minute Day Trading with Alerts:
- ATR Timeframe: "5" or match chart
- ATR Min Value: Adjust to instrument (test 8-15 for NQ)
- Entry Zone %: 20-30%
- TP Method: % of Channel, 40-60%
- SL Offset: 5-10 ticks
- Cooldown: 3-5 bars
- **Alert Setup**: Configure separate "Long Scalp Entry" and "Short Scalp Entry" alerts if you trade directionally based on bias
- **Execution**: Review channel structure on alert, confirm ATR filter shows ✓, then enter manually
### For 30-60 Minute Swing Scalping with Alerts:
- ATR Timeframe: "15" or "30"
- ATR Min Value: Lower threshold for broader market
- Entry Zone %: 25-35%
- TP Method: % of Channel, 50-70%
- SL Offset: 10-15 ticks
- Cooldown: 5+ bars or disable
- **Alert Setup**: Use "New Channel Formation" to prepare for setups, then "Any Entry Signal" for execution alerts
- **Execution**: Larger timeframes allow more analysis time between alert and entry
### Webhook Integration for Semi-Automation:
- Configure alert webhook URL to connect with platforms like TradersPost, TradingView Paper Trading, or custom automation
- Alert message includes all necessary order parameters (direction, entry, TP, SL)
- Webhook receives structured data when signal fires
- External platform can auto-execute based on alert payload
- Still maintains manual oversight vs full strategy automation
## USAGE CONSIDERATIONS:
- **Manual Discipline Required**: Alerts provide opportunities but execution requires judgment. Not all alerts should be taken - consider market context, trend, and channel quality
- **Alert Timing**: Alerts fire on bar close by default. Ensure "Once Per Bar Close" is selected to avoid false signals during bar formation
- **Notification Delivery**: Mobile/email alerts may have 1-3 second delay. For immediate execution, use desktop popups or webhook automation
- **Cooldown Necessity**: Without cooldown, rapidly touching price action can generate excessive alerts. Start with 3-bar cooldown and adjust based on alert volume
- **ATR Filter Impact**: Enabling ATR filter dramatically reduces alert count but improves quality. Track filter status in info table to understand when you're receiving fewer alerts
- **Commission Awareness**: High alert frequency means high potential trade count. Calculate if your commission structure supports frequent scalping before acting on all alerts
## COMPATIBLE MARKETS:
Works on any instrument with price data including stock indices (NQ, ES, YM, RTY), individual stocks, forex pairs (EUR/USD, GBP/USD), cryptocurrency (BTC, ETH), and commodities. Volume-based features are not included in this indicator version. Multi-timeframe ATR requires higher-tier TradingView subscription for request.security() functionality on timeframes below chart timeframe.
## KNOWN LIMITATIONS:
- **Indicator does not execute trades** - alerts are informational only; you must manually place all orders
- **Alert delivery depends on TradingView infrastructure** - delays or failures possible during platform issues
- **No position tracking** - indicator doesn't know if you're in a trade; you must manage open positions independently
- **TP/SL levels are reference only** - you must manually set these on your broker platform; they are not live orders
- **Immediate touch entry can generate many alerts** in choppy zones without adequate cooldown
- **Channel deletion at 10-tick breaks** may be too aggressive or lenient depending on instrument tick size
- **ATR filter from lower timeframes** requires TradingView Premium/Pro+ for request.security()
- **Mean reversion logic fails** in strong breakout scenarios - alerts will fire but trades may hit stops
- **No partial closing capability** - full position management is manual; you determine scaling out
- **Alerts do not account for gaps** or overnight price changes; morning alerts may be stale
## RISK DISCLOSURE:
Trading involves substantial risk of loss. This indicator provides signals for educational and informational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice. Past performance does not guarantee future results. Mean reversion strategies can experience extended drawdowns during trending markets. Alerts are not guaranteed to be profitable and should be combined with your own analysis. Stop losses may not fill at intended levels during extreme volatility or gaps. Never trade with capital you cannot afford to lose. Consider consulting a licensed financial advisor before making trading decisions. Always verify alerts against current market conditions before executing trades manually.
## ACKNOWLEDGMENT & CREDITS:
This indicator is built upon the channel detection methodology created by **AlgoAlpha** in the "Smart Money Breakout Channels" indicator. Full credit and appreciation to AlgoAlpha for pioneering the normalized volatility approach to identifying consolidation patterns. The core channel formation logic using normalized price standard deviation is AlgoAlpha's original contribution to the TradingView community.
Enhancements to the original concept include: mean reversion entry logic (vs breakout), immediate touch-based alert generation, comprehensive alert condition system with customizable notifications, multi-timeframe ATR volatility filtering, cooldown period for alert management, dual TP methods (fixed points vs channel percentage), visual TP/SL reference lines, and real-time status monitoring table. This indicator version is specifically designed for manual traders who prefer alert-based decision making over automated execution.
BOCS Channel Scalper Strategy - Automated Mean Reversion System# BOCS Channel Scalper Strategy - Automated Mean Reversion System
## WHAT THIS STRATEGY DOES:
This is an automated mean reversion trading strategy that identifies consolidation channels through volatility analysis and executes scalp trades when price enters entry zones near channel boundaries. Unlike breakout strategies, this system assumes price will revert to the channel mean, taking profits as price bounces back from extremes. Position sizing is fully customizable with three methods: fixed contracts, percentage of equity, or fixed dollar amount. Stop losses are placed just outside channel boundaries with take profits calculated either as fixed points or as a percentage of channel range.
## KEY DIFFERENCE FROM ORIGINAL BOCS:
**This strategy is designed for traders seeking higher trade frequency.** The original BOCS indicator trades breakouts OUTSIDE channels, waiting for price to escape consolidation before entering. This scalper version trades mean reversion INSIDE channels, entering when price reaches channel extremes and betting on a bounce back to center. The result is significantly more trading opportunities:
- **Original BOCS**: 1-3 signals per channel (only on breakout)
- **Scalper Version**: 5-15+ signals per channel (every touch of entry zones)
- **Trade Style**: Mean reversion vs trend following
- **Hold Time**: Seconds to minutes vs minutes to hours
- **Best Markets**: Ranging/choppy conditions vs trending breakouts
This makes the scalper ideal for active day traders who want continuous opportunities within consolidation zones rather than waiting for breakout confirmation. However, increased trade frequency also means higher commission costs and requires tighter risk management.
## TECHNICAL METHODOLOGY:
### Price Normalization Process:
The strategy normalizes price data to create consistent volatility measurements across different instruments and price levels. It calculates the highest high and lowest low over a user-defined lookback period (default 100 bars). Current close price is normalized using: (close - lowest_low) / (highest_high - lowest_low), producing values between 0 and 1 for standardized volatility analysis.
### Volatility Detection:
A 14-period standard deviation is applied to the normalized price series to measure price deviation from the mean. Higher standard deviation values indicate volatility expansion; lower values indicate consolidation. The strategy uses ta.highestbars() and ta.lowestbars() to identify when volatility peaks and troughs occur over the detection period (default 14 bars).
### Channel Formation Logic:
When volatility crosses from a high level to a low level (ta.crossover(upper, lower)), a consolidation phase begins. The strategy tracks the highest and lowest prices during this period, which become the channel boundaries. Minimum duration of 10+ bars is required to filter out brief volatility spikes. Channels are rendered as box objects with defined upper and lower boundaries, with colored zones indicating entry areas.
### Entry Signal Generation:
The strategy uses immediate touch-based entry logic. Entry zones are defined as a percentage from channel edges (default 20%):
- **Long Entry Zone**: Bottom 20% of channel (bottomBound + channelRange × 0.2)
- **Short Entry Zone**: Top 20% of channel (topBound - channelRange × 0.2)
Long signals trigger when candle low touches or enters the long entry zone. Short signals trigger when candle high touches or enters the short entry zone. This captures mean reversion opportunities as price reaches channel extremes.
### Cooldown Filter:
An optional cooldown period (measured in bars) prevents signal spam by enforcing minimum spacing between consecutive signals. If cooldown is set to 3 bars, no new long signal will fire until 3 bars after the previous long signal. Long and short cooldowns are tracked independently, allowing both directions to signal within the same period.
### ATR Volatility Filter:
The strategy includes a multi-timeframe ATR filter to avoid trading during low-volatility conditions. Using request.security(), it fetches ATR values from a specified timeframe (e.g., 1-minute ATR while trading on 5-minute charts). The filter compares current ATR to a user-defined minimum threshold:
- If ATR ≥ threshold: Trading enabled
- If ATR < threshold: No signals fire
This prevents entries during dead zones where mean reversion is unreliable due to insufficient price movement.
### Take Profit Calculation:
Two TP methods are available:
**Fixed Points Mode**:
- Long TP = Entry + (TP_Ticks × syminfo.mintick)
- Short TP = Entry - (TP_Ticks × syminfo.mintick)
**Channel Percentage Mode**:
- Long TP = Entry + (ChannelRange × TP_Percent)
- Short TP = Entry - (ChannelRange × TP_Percent)
Default 50% targets the channel midline, a natural mean reversion target. Larger percentages aim for opposite channel edge.
### Stop Loss Placement:
Stop losses are placed just outside the channel boundary by a user-defined tick offset:
- Long SL = ChannelBottom - (SL_Offset_Ticks × syminfo.mintick)
- Short SL = ChannelTop + (SL_Offset_Ticks × syminfo.mintick)
This logic assumes channel breaks invalidate the mean reversion thesis. If price breaks through, the range is no longer valid and position exits.
### Trade Execution Logic:
When entry conditions are met (price in zone, cooldown satisfied, ATR filter passed, no existing position):
1. Calculate entry price at zone boundary
2. Calculate TP and SL based on selected method
3. Execute strategy.entry() with calculated position size
4. Place strategy.exit() with TP limit and SL stop orders
5. Update info table with active trade details
The strategy enforces one position at a time by checking strategy.position_size == 0 before entry.
### Channel Breakout Management:
Channels are removed when price closes more than 10 ticks outside boundaries. This tolerance prevents premature channel deletion from minor breaks or wicks, allowing the mean reversion setup to persist through small boundary violations.
### Position Sizing System:
Three methods calculate position size:
**Fixed Contracts**:
- Uses exact contract quantity specified in settings
- Best for futures traders (e.g., "trade 2 NQ contracts")
**Percentage of Equity**:
- position_size = (strategy.equity × equity_pct / 100) / close
- Dynamically scales with account growth
**Cash Amount**:
- position_size = cash_amount / close
- Maintains consistent dollar exposure regardless of price
## INPUT PARAMETERS:
### Position Sizing:
- **Position Size Type**: Choose Fixed Contracts, % of Equity, or Cash Amount
- **Number of Contracts**: Fixed quantity per trade (1-1000)
- **% of Equity**: Percentage of account to allocate (1-100%)
- **Cash Amount**: Dollar value per position ($100+)
### Channel Settings:
- **Nested Channels**: Allow multiple overlapping channels vs single channel
- **Normalization Length**: Lookback for high/low calculation (1-500, default 100)
- **Box Detection Length**: Period for volatility detection (1-100, default 14)
### Scalping Settings:
- **Enable Long Scalps**: Toggle long entries on/off
- **Enable Short Scalps**: Toggle short entries on/off
- **Entry Zone % from Edge**: Size of entry zone (5-50%, default 20%)
- **SL Offset (Ticks)**: Distance beyond channel for stop (1+, default 5)
- **Cooldown Period (Bars)**: Minimum spacing between signals (0 = no cooldown)
### ATR Filter:
- **Enable ATR Filter**: Toggle volatility filter on/off
- **ATR Timeframe**: Source timeframe for ATR (1, 5, 15, 60 min, etc.)
- **ATR Length**: Smoothing period (1-100, default 14)
- **Min ATR Value**: Threshold for trade enablement (0.1+, default 10.0)
### Take Profit Settings:
- **TP Method**: Choose Fixed Points or % of Channel
- **TP Fixed (Ticks)**: Static distance in ticks (1+, default 30)
- **TP % of Channel**: Dynamic target as channel percentage (10-100%, default 50%)
### Appearance:
- **Show Entry Zones**: Toggle zone labels on channels
- **Show Info Table**: Display real-time strategy status
- **Table Position**: Corner placement (Top Left/Right, Bottom Left/Right)
- **Color Settings**: Customize long/short/TP/SL colors
## VISUAL INDICATORS:
- **Channel boxes** with semi-transparent fill showing consolidation zones
- **Colored entry zones** labeled "LONG ZONE ▲" and "SHORT ZONE ▼"
- **Entry signal arrows** below/above bars marking long/short entries
- **Active TP/SL lines** with emoji labels (⊕ Entry, 🎯 TP, 🛑 SL)
- **Info table** showing position status, channel state, last signal, entry/TP/SL prices, and ATR status
## HOW TO USE:
### For 1-3 Minute Scalping (NQ/ES):
- ATR Timeframe: "1" (1-minute)
- ATR Min Value: 10.0 (for NQ), adjust per instrument
- Entry Zone %: 20-25%
- TP Method: Fixed Points, 20-40 ticks
- SL Offset: 5-10 ticks
- Cooldown: 2-3 bars
- Position Size: 1-2 contracts
### For 5-15 Minute Day Trading:
- ATR Timeframe: "5" or match chart
- ATR Min Value: Adjust to instrument (test 8-15 for NQ)
- Entry Zone %: 20-30%
- TP Method: % of Channel, 40-60%
- SL Offset: 5-10 ticks
- Cooldown: 3-5 bars
- Position Size: Fixed contracts or 5-10% equity
### For 30-60 Minute Swing Scalping:
- ATR Timeframe: "15" or "30"
- ATR Min Value: Lower threshold for broader market
- Entry Zone %: 25-35%
- TP Method: % of Channel, 50-70%
- SL Offset: 10-15 ticks
- Cooldown: 5+ bars or disable
- Position Size: % of equity recommended
## BACKTEST CONSIDERATIONS:
- Strategy performs best in ranging, mean-reverting markets
- Strong trending markets produce more stop losses as price breaks channels
- ATR filter significantly reduces trade count but improves quality during low volatility
- Cooldown period trades signal quantity for signal quality
- Commission and slippage materially impact sub-5-minute timeframe performance
- Shorter timeframes require tighter entry zones (15-20%) to catch quick reversions
- % of Channel TP adapts better to varying channel sizes than fixed points
- Fixed contract sizing recommended for consistent risk per trade in futures
**Backtesting Parameters Used**: This strategy was developed and tested using realistic commission and slippage values to provide accurate performance expectations. Recommended settings: Commission of $1.40 per side (typical for NQ futures through discount brokers), slippage of 2 ticks to account for execution delays on fast-moving scalp entries. These values reflect real-world trading costs that active scalpers will encounter. Backtest results without proper cost simulation will significantly overstate profitability.
## COMPATIBLE MARKETS:
Works on any instrument with price data including stock indices (NQ, ES, YM, RTY), individual stocks, forex pairs (EUR/USD, GBP/USD), cryptocurrency (BTC, ETH), and commodities. Volume-based features require data feed with volume information but are optional for core functionality.
## KNOWN LIMITATIONS:
- Immediate touch entry can fire multiple times in choppy zones without adequate cooldown
- Channel deletion at 10-tick breaks may be too aggressive or lenient depending on instrument tick size
- ATR filter from lower timeframes requires higher-tier TradingView subscription (request.security limitation)
- Mean reversion logic fails in strong breakout scenarios leading to stop loss hits
- Position sizing via % of equity or cash amount calculates based on close price, may differ from actual fill price
- No partial closing capability - full position exits at TP or SL only
- Strategy does not account for gap openings or overnight holds
## RISK DISCLOSURE:
Trading involves substantial risk of loss. Past performance does not guarantee future results. This strategy is for educational purposes and backtesting only. Mean reversion strategies can experience extended drawdowns during trending markets. Stop losses may not fill at intended levels during extreme volatility or gaps. Thoroughly test on historical data and paper trade before risking real capital. Use appropriate position sizing and never risk more than you can afford to lose. Consider consulting a licensed financial advisor before making trading decisions. Automated trading systems can malfunction - monitor all live positions actively.
## ACKNOWLEDGMENT & CREDITS:
This strategy is built upon the channel detection methodology created by **AlgoAlpha** in the "Smart Money Breakout Channels" indicator. Full credit and appreciation to AlgoAlpha for pioneering the normalized volatility approach to identifying consolidation patterns. The core channel formation logic using normalized price standard deviation is AlgoAlpha's original contribution to the TradingView community.
Enhancements to the original concept include: mean reversion entry logic (vs breakout), immediate touch-based signals, multi-timeframe ATR volatility filtering, flexible position sizing (fixed/percentage/cash), cooldown period filtering, dual TP methods (fixed points vs channel percentage), automated strategy execution with exit management, and real-time position monitoring table.
Volume-Price Divergence Indicator V3Description:
This indicator helps you identify volume-price divergences and potential trend weakness across any specified timeframe.
Features:
Volume bars with moving average – green for bullish, red for bearish, with orange SMA to detect low-volume situations.
Custom OBV calculation with divergence detection – highlights when price makes new highs/lows but OBV does not.
VWAP deviation alerts – signals when price moves far from VWAP while volume remains low, indicating potential fake breakouts.
Fully configurable – select any reference timeframe, adjust volume MA, OBV period, and VWAP deviation threshold.
Visual markers – easily spot bullish/bearish divergences and volume-price mismatches directly on your chart.
Use case:
Spot early trend exhaustion points.
Identify fake breakouts or weak rallies/drops.
Combine with your existing trading strategy for more informed entries and exits.
Volume-Price Divergence Indicator V2Description:
This indicator helps you identify volume-price divergences and potential trend weakness across any specified timeframe.
Features:
Volume bars with moving average – green for bullish, red for bearish, with orange SMA to detect low-volume situations.
Custom OBV calculation with divergence detection – highlights when price makes new highs/lows but OBV does not.
VWAP deviation alerts – signals when price moves far from VWAP while volume remains low, indicating potential fake breakouts.
Fully configurable – select any reference timeframe, adjust volume MA, OBV period, and VWAP deviation threshold.
Visual markers – easily spot bullish/bearish divergences and volume-price mismatches directly on your chart.
Use case:
Spot early trend exhaustion points.
Identify fake breakouts or weak rallies/drops.
Combine with your existing trading strategy for more informed entries and exits.
Volume-Price Divergence Indicator (OBV + VWAP, Multi-Timeframe)Description:
This indicator helps you identify volume-price divergences and potential trend weakness across any specified timeframe.
Features:
Volume bars with moving average – green for bullish, red for bearish, with orange SMA to detect low-volume situations.
Custom OBV calculation with divergence detection – highlights when price makes new highs/lows but OBV does not.
VWAP deviation alerts – signals when price moves far from VWAP while volume remains low, indicating potential fake breakouts.
Fully configurable – select any reference timeframe, adjust volume MA, OBV period, and VWAP deviation threshold.
Visual markers – easily spot bullish/bearish divergences and volume-price mismatches directly on your chart.
Use case:
Spot early trend exhaustion points.
Identify fake breakouts or weak rallies/drops.
Combine with your existing trading strategy for more informed entries and exits.
Positional Toolbox v6 (distinct colors)what the lines mean (colors)
EMA20 (green) = fast trend
EMA50 (orange) = intermediate trend
EMA200 (purple, thicker) = primary trend
when the chart is “bullish” vs “bearish”
Bullish bias (look for buys):
EMA20 > EMA50 > EMA200 and EMA200 sloping up.
Bearish bias (avoid longs / consider exits):
EMA20 < EMA50 < EMA200 or price closing under EMA50/EMA200.
the two buy signals the script gives you
Pullback Long (triangle up)
Prints when price dips to EMA20 (green) and closes back above it while trend is bullish and ADX is decent.
Entry: buy on the same close or on a break of that candle’s high next day.
Stop: below the pullback swing-low (or below EMA50 for simplicity).
Best for: adding on an existing uptrend after a shallow dip.
Breakout 55D (“BO55” label)
Prints when price closes above prior 55-day high with volume surge in a bullish trend.
Entry: on the close that triggers, or next day above the breakout candle’s high.
Stop: below the breakout candle’s low (conservative: below base low).
Best for: fresh trend legs from bases.
simple “sell / exit” rules
Trend exit (clean & mechanical): exit if daily close < EMA50 (orange).
More conservative: only exit if close < EMA200 (purple).
Momentum fade / weak breakout: if BO55 triggers but price re-closes back inside the base within 1–3 sessions on above-avg volume → exit or cut size.
Profit taking: book some at +1.5R to +2R, trail the rest (e.g., below prior swing lows or EMA20).
quick visual checklist (what to look for)
Are the EMAs stacked up (green over orange over purple)? → ok to buy setups.
Did a triangle print near EMA20? → pullback long candidate.
Did a BO55 label print with strong volume? → breakout candidate.
Any close under EMA50 after you’re in? → reduce/exit.
timeframe
Use Daily for positional signals.
If you want a tighter entry, drop to 30m/1h only to time the trigger—but keep decisions anchored to the daily trend.
alerts to set (so you don’t miss signals)
Add alert on Breakout 55D and Pullback Long (from the indicator’s alertconditions).
Optional price alerts at the breakout level or EMA20 touch.
risk guardrails (MTF friendly)
Risk ≤1% of capital per trade.
Avoid fresh entries within ~5 trading days of earnings unless you accept gap risk.
Prefer high-liquidity NSE F&O names (your CSV watchlist covers this).
TL;DR (super short):
Green > Orange > Purple = uptrend.
Triangle near green = buy the pullback; stop under swing low/EMA50.
BO55 label = buy the breakout; stop under breakout candle/base.
Exit on close below EMA50 (or below EMA200 if you’re giving more room).
AlgoGram Trend Identifier📊 Algogram Trend Identifier (ATI)
The Algogram Trend Identifier (ATI) is a powerful trend-following oscillator designed to help traders identify market direction, momentum strength, divergences, and consolidation zones across multiple timeframes.
🔑 Key Features:
Multi-Timeframe Presets – Choose from 5m, 15m (default), 30m, 1h, and Daily for optimized settings.
Adaptive ALMA Calculation – Uses ALMA smoothing with dynamic thresholds to detect clean trend shifts.
Trend Highlighting – Visual coloring of oscillator and optional bar coloring for quick market bias recognition.
Customizable Thresholds & Bands – Fine-tune upper/lower thresholds, consolidation zones, and band multipliers.
Consolidation Detection – Highlights when the market is moving sideways with adjustable parameters.
Divergence Detection – Automatically detects bullish & bearish divergences with optional lines and dots.
Dynamic Alerts – Built-in alerts for:
Crossing thresholds
Zero line crosses
Uptrend / Downtrend detection
Bullish / Bearish divergences
RMS consolidation breakouts
🎯 How to Use:
Above Zero Line → Bullish trend bias.
Below Zero Line → Bearish trend bias.
Consolidation Zone → Market may range or prepare for breakout.
Bullish Divergence → Potential reversal to upside.
Bearish Divergence → Potential reversal to downside.
⚡ Best For:
Swing Traders, Scalpers, and Positional Traders
Identifying trend strength, early reversals, and breakout opportunities
Works on stocks, crypto, forex, and indices
Multi-Strategy Trading Screener SummaryI only combined famous scripts, all thanks to wonderful scripts and community out there .
ThankYou !
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Core Architecture
Multi-Symbol Analysis: Tracks up to 5 configurable tickers simultaneously
Multi-Timeframe Support: Each symbol can use different timeframes
Real-Time Dashboard: Color-coded table displaying all signals and analysis
Trend Validation: All signals include trend alignment confirmation
Integrated Trading Strategies
1. Breaker Blocks (Order Blocks)
Detects institutional order blocks using swing analysis
Tracks when blocks are broken and become "breaker blocks"
Monitors retests of broken levels
Shows trend alignment (✓ aligned, ⚠️ misaligned)
2. Chandelier Exit
ATR-based trend-following exit system
Provides BUY/SELL signals based on dynamic stop levels
Uses configurable ATR multiplier and lookback period
3. Smart Money Breakout
Channel breakout detection with volatility normalization
Identifies accumulation/distribution phases
Generates persistent BUY/SELL signals on breakouts
4. Trendline Breakout
Dynamic trendline detection using pivot highs/lows
Calculates trendline slopes and breakout points
Provides BUY signals on upward breaks, SELL on downward breaks
Dashboard Columns Explained
Symbol: Ticker being analyzed
Trend: Overall SuperTrend direction (🟢 UP / 🔴 DOWN / ⚪ FLAT)
Timeframe: Analysis timeframe with clock icon
Breaker Block: Type (Bullish/Bearish) with trend alignment indicator
Status: Price position relative to breaker block (Inside/Approaching/Far)
Retests: Number of times the broken level was retested (indicates level strength)
Volume: Volume associated with the order block formation
Chandelier: BUY/SELL signals from Chandelier Exit strategy
Smart Money: BUY/SELL signals from breakout detection
Trendline: BUY/SELL signals from trendline breakouts
Key Features
No HOLD States: All signals show definitive BUY (🟢) or SELL (🔴) only
Persistent Signals: Signals remain active until opposite conditions trigger
Color Coding: Visual distinction between bullish (green) and bearish (red) signals
Trend Alignment: Enhanced accuracy through trend confirmation logic
This screener provides a comprehensive view of market conditions across multiple strategies, helping identify high-probability trading opportunities when signals align.
Tzotchev Trend Measure [EdgeTools]Are you still measuring trend strength with moving averages? Here is a better variant at scientific level:
Tzotchev Trend Measure: A Statistical Approach to Trend Following
The Tzotchev Trend Measure represents a sophisticated advancement in quantitative trend analysis, moving beyond traditional moving average-based indicators toward a statistically rigorous framework for measuring trend strength. This indicator implements the methodology developed by Tzotchev et al. (2015) in their seminal J.P. Morgan research paper "Designing robust trend-following system: Behind the scenes of trend-following," which introduced a probabilistic approach to trend measurement that has since become a cornerstone of institutional trading strategies.
Mathematical Foundation and Statistical Theory
The core innovation of the Tzotchev Trend Measure lies in its transformation of price momentum into a probability-based metric through the application of statistical hypothesis testing principles. The indicator employs the fundamental formula ST = 2 × Φ(√T × r̄T / σ̂T) - 1, where ST represents the trend strength score bounded between -1 and +1, Φ(x) denotes the normal cumulative distribution function, T represents the lookback period in trading days, r̄T is the average logarithmic return over the specified period, and σ̂T represents the estimated daily return volatility.
This formulation transforms what is essentially a t-statistic into a probabilistic trend measure, testing the null hypothesis that the mean return equals zero against the alternative hypothesis of non-zero mean return. The use of logarithmic returns rather than simple returns provides several statistical advantages, including symmetry properties where log(P₁/P₀) = -log(P₀/P₁), additivity characteristics that allow for proper compounding analysis, and improved validity of normal distribution assumptions that underpin the statistical framework.
The implementation utilizes the Abramowitz and Stegun (1964) approximation for the normal cumulative distribution function, achieving accuracy within ±1.5 × 10⁻⁷ for all input values. This approximation employs Horner's method for polynomial evaluation to ensure numerical stability, particularly important when processing large datasets or extreme market conditions.
Comparative Analysis with Traditional Trend Measurement Methods
The Tzotchev Trend Measure demonstrates significant theoretical and empirical advantages over conventional trend analysis techniques. Traditional moving average-based systems, including simple moving averages (SMA), exponential moving averages (EMA), and their derivatives such as MACD, suffer from several fundamental limitations that the Tzotchev methodology addresses systematically.
Moving average systems exhibit inherent lag bias, as documented by Kaufman (2013) in "Trading Systems and Methods," where he demonstrates that moving averages inevitably lag price movements by approximately half their period length. This lag creates delayed signal generation that reduces profitability in trending markets and increases false signal frequency during consolidation periods. In contrast, the Tzotchev measure eliminates lag bias by directly analyzing the statistical properties of return distributions rather than smoothing price levels.
The volatility normalization inherent in the Tzotchev formula addresses a critical weakness in traditional momentum indicators. As shown by Bollinger (2001) in "Bollinger on Bollinger Bands," momentum oscillators like RSI and Stochastic fail to account for changing volatility regimes, leading to inconsistent signal interpretation across different market conditions. The Tzotchev measure's incorporation of return volatility in the denominator ensures that trend strength assessments remain consistent regardless of the underlying volatility environment.
Empirical studies by Hurst, Ooi, and Pedersen (2013) in "Demystifying Managed Futures" demonstrate that traditional trend-following indicators suffer from significant drawdowns during whipsaw markets, with Sharpe ratios frequently below 0.5 during challenging periods. The authors attribute these poor performance characteristics to the binary nature of most trend signals and their inability to quantify signal confidence. The Tzotchev measure addresses this limitation by providing continuous probability-based outputs that allow for more sophisticated risk management and position sizing strategies.
The statistical foundation of the Tzotchev approach provides superior robustness compared to technical indicators that lack theoretical grounding. Fama and French (1988) in "Permanent and Temporary Components of Stock Prices" established that price movements contain both permanent and temporary components, with traditional moving averages unable to distinguish between these elements effectively. The Tzotchev methodology's hypothesis testing framework specifically tests for the presence of permanent trend components while filtering out temporary noise, providing a more theoretically sound approach to trend identification.
Research by Moskowitz, Ooi, and Pedersen (2012) in "Time Series Momentum in the Cross Section of Asset Returns" found that traditional momentum indicators exhibit significant variation in effectiveness across asset classes and time periods. Their study of multiple asset classes over decades revealed that simple price-based momentum measures often fail to capture persistent trends in fixed income and commodity markets. The Tzotchev measure's normalization by volatility and its probabilistic interpretation provide consistent performance across diverse asset classes, as demonstrated in the original J.P. Morgan research.
Comparative performance studies conducted by AQR Capital Management (Asness, Moskowitz, and Pedersen, 2013) in "Value and Momentum Everywhere" show that volatility-adjusted momentum measures significantly outperform traditional price momentum across international equity, bond, commodity, and currency markets. The study documents Sharpe ratio improvements of 0.2 to 0.4 when incorporating volatility normalization, consistent with the theoretical advantages of the Tzotchev approach.
The regime detection capabilities of the Tzotchev measure provide additional advantages over binary trend classification systems. Research by Ang and Bekaert (2002) in "Regime Switches in Interest Rates" demonstrates that financial markets exhibit distinct regime characteristics that traditional indicators fail to capture adequately. The Tzotchev measure's five-tier classification system (Strong Bull, Weak Bull, Neutral, Weak Bear, Strong Bear) provides more nuanced market state identification than simple trend/no-trend binary systems.
Statistical testing by Jegadeesh and Titman (2001) in "Profitability of Momentum Strategies" revealed that traditional momentum indicators suffer from significant parameter instability, with optimal lookback periods varying substantially across market conditions and asset classes. The Tzotchev measure's statistical framework provides more stable parameter selection through its grounding in hypothesis testing theory, reducing the need for frequent parameter optimization that can lead to overfitting.
Advanced Noise Filtering and Market Regime Detection
A significant enhancement over the original Tzotchev methodology is the incorporation of a multi-factor noise filtering system designed to reduce false signals during sideways market conditions. The filtering mechanism employs four distinct approaches: adaptive thresholding based on current market regime strength, volatility-based filtering utilizing ATR percentile analysis, trend strength confirmation through momentum alignment, and a comprehensive multi-factor approach that combines all methodologies.
The adaptive filtering system analyzes market microstructure through price change relative to average true range, calculates volatility percentiles over rolling windows, and assesses trend alignment across multiple timeframes using exponential moving averages of varying periods. This approach addresses one of the primary limitations identified in traditional trend-following systems, namely their tendency to generate excessive false signals during periods of low volatility or sideways price action.
The regime detection component classifies market conditions into five distinct categories: Strong Bull (ST > 0.3), Weak Bull (0.1 < ST ≤ 0.3), Neutral (-0.1 ≤ ST ≤ 0.1), Weak Bear (-0.3 ≤ ST < -0.1), and Strong Bear (ST < -0.3). This classification system provides traders with clear, quantitative definitions of market regimes that can inform position sizing, risk management, and strategy selection decisions.
Professional Implementation and Trading Applications
The indicator incorporates three distinct trading profiles designed to accommodate different investment approaches and risk tolerances. The Conservative profile employs longer lookback periods (63 days), higher signal thresholds (0.2), and reduced filter sensitivity (0.5) to minimize false signals and focus on major trend changes. The Balanced profile utilizes standard academic parameters with moderate settings across all dimensions. The Aggressive profile implements shorter lookback periods (14 days), lower signal thresholds (-0.1), and increased filter sensitivity (1.5) to capture shorter-term trend movements.
Signal generation occurs through threshold crossover analysis, where long signals are generated when the trend measure crosses above the specified threshold and short signals when it crosses below. The implementation includes sophisticated signal confirmation mechanisms that consider trend alignment across multiple timeframes and momentum strength percentiles to reduce the likelihood of false breakouts.
The alert system provides real-time notifications for trend threshold crossovers, strong regime changes, and signal generation events, with configurable frequency controls to prevent notification spam. Alert messages are standardized to ensure consistency across different market conditions and timeframes.
Performance Optimization and Computational Efficiency
The implementation incorporates several performance optimization features designed to handle large datasets efficiently. The maximum bars back parameter allows users to control historical calculation depth, with default settings optimized for most trading applications while providing flexibility for extended historical analysis. The system includes automatic performance monitoring that generates warnings when computational limits are approached.
Error handling mechanisms protect against division by zero conditions, infinite values, and other numerical instabilities that can occur during extreme market conditions. The finite value checking system ensures data integrity throughout the calculation process, with fallback mechanisms that maintain indicator functionality even when encountering corrupted or missing price data.
Timeframe validation provides warnings when the indicator is applied to unsuitable timeframes, as the Tzotchev methodology was specifically designed for daily and higher timeframe analysis. This validation helps prevent misapplication of the indicator in contexts where its statistical assumptions may not hold.
Visual Design and User Interface
The indicator features eight professional color schemes designed for different trading environments and user preferences. The EdgeTools theme provides an institutional blue and steel color palette suitable for professional trading environments. The Gold theme offers warm colors optimized for commodities trading. The Behavioral theme incorporates psychology-based color contrasts that align with behavioral finance principles. The Quant theme provides neutral colors suitable for analytical applications.
Additional specialized themes include Ocean, Fire, Matrix, and Arctic variations, each optimized for specific visual preferences and trading contexts. All color schemes include automatic dark and light mode optimization to ensure optimal readability across different chart backgrounds and trading platforms.
The information table provides real-time display of key metrics including current trend measure value, market regime classification, signal strength, Z-score, average returns, volatility measures, filter threshold levels, and filter effectiveness percentages. This comprehensive dashboard allows traders to monitor all relevant indicator components simultaneously.
Theoretical Implications and Research Context
The Tzotchev Trend Measure addresses several theoretical limitations inherent in traditional technical analysis approaches. Unlike moving average-based systems that rely on price level comparisons, this methodology grounds trend analysis in statistical hypothesis testing, providing a more robust theoretical foundation for trading decisions.
The probabilistic interpretation of trend strength offers significant advantages over binary trend classification systems. Rather than simply indicating whether a trend exists, the measure quantifies the statistical confidence level associated with the trend assessment, allowing for more nuanced risk management and position sizing decisions.
The incorporation of volatility normalization addresses the well-documented problem of volatility clustering in financial time series, ensuring that trend strength assessments remain consistent across different market volatility regimes. This normalization is particularly important for portfolio management applications where consistent risk metrics across different assets and time periods are essential.
Practical Applications and Trading Strategy Integration
The Tzotchev Trend Measure can be effectively integrated into various trading strategies and portfolio management frameworks. For trend-following strategies, the indicator provides clear entry and exit signals with quantified confidence levels. For mean reversion strategies, extreme readings can signal potential turning points. For portfolio allocation, the regime classification system can inform dynamic asset allocation decisions.
The indicator's statistical foundation makes it particularly suitable for quantitative trading strategies where systematic, rules-based approaches are preferred over discretionary decision-making. The standardized output range facilitates easy integration with position sizing algorithms and risk management systems.
Risk management applications benefit from the indicator's ability to quantify trend strength and provide early warning signals of potential trend changes. The multi-timeframe analysis capability allows for the construction of robust risk management frameworks that consider both short-term tactical and long-term strategic market conditions.
Implementation Guide and Parameter Configuration
The practical application of the Tzotchev Trend Measure requires careful parameter configuration to optimize performance for specific trading objectives and market conditions. This section provides comprehensive guidance for parameter selection and indicator customization.
Core Calculation Parameters
The Lookback Period parameter controls the statistical window used for trend calculation and represents the most critical setting for the indicator. Default values range from 14 to 63 trading days, with shorter periods (14-21 days) providing more sensitive trend detection suitable for short-term trading strategies, while longer periods (42-63 days) offer more stable trend identification appropriate for position trading and long-term investment strategies. The parameter directly influences the statistical significance of trend measurements, with longer periods requiring stronger underlying trends to generate significant signals but providing greater reliability in trend identification.
The Price Source parameter determines which price series is used for return calculations. The default close price provides standard trend analysis, while alternative selections such as high-low midpoint ((high + low) / 2) can reduce noise in volatile markets, and volume-weighted average price (VWAP) offers superior trend identification in institutional trading environments where volume concentration matters significantly.
The Signal Threshold parameter establishes the minimum trend strength required for signal generation, with values ranging from -0.5 to 0.5. Conservative threshold settings (0.2 to 0.3) reduce false signals but may miss early trend opportunities, while aggressive settings (-0.1 to 0.1) provide earlier signal generation at the cost of increased false positive rates. The optimal threshold depends on the trader's risk tolerance and the volatility characteristics of the traded instrument.
Trading Profile Configuration
The Trading Profile system provides pre-configured parameter sets optimized for different trading approaches. The Conservative profile employs a 63-day lookback period with a 0.2 signal threshold and 0.5 noise sensitivity, designed for long-term position traders seeking high-probability trend signals with minimal false positives. The Balanced profile uses a 21-day lookback with 0.05 signal threshold and 1.0 noise sensitivity, suitable for swing traders requiring moderate signal frequency with acceptable noise levels. The Aggressive profile implements a 14-day lookback with -0.1 signal threshold and 1.5 noise sensitivity, optimized for day traders and scalpers requiring frequent signal generation despite higher noise levels.
Advanced Noise Filtering System
The noise filtering mechanism addresses the challenge of false signals during sideways market conditions through four distinct methodologies. The Adaptive filter adjusts thresholds based on current trend strength, increasing sensitivity during strong trending periods while raising thresholds during consolidation phases. The Volatility-based filter utilizes Average True Range (ATR) percentile analysis to suppress signals during abnormally volatile conditions that typically generate false trend indications.
The Trend Strength filter requires alignment between multiple momentum indicators before confirming signals, reducing the probability of false breakouts from consolidation patterns. The Multi-factor approach combines all filtering methodologies using weighted scoring to provide the most robust noise reduction while maintaining signal responsiveness during genuine trend initiations.
The Noise Sensitivity parameter controls the aggressiveness of the filtering system, with lower values (0.5-1.0) providing conservative filtering suitable for volatile instruments, while higher values (1.5-2.0) allow more signals through but may increase false positive rates during choppy market conditions.
Visual Customization and Display Options
The Color Scheme parameter offers eight professional visualization options designed for different analytical preferences and market conditions. The EdgeTools scheme provides high contrast visualization optimized for trend strength differentiation, while the Gold scheme offers warm tones suitable for commodity analysis. The Behavioral scheme uses psychological color associations to enhance decision-making speed, and the Quant scheme provides neutral colors appropriate for quantitative analysis environments.
The Ocean, Fire, Matrix, and Arctic schemes offer additional aesthetic options while maintaining analytical functionality. Each scheme includes optimized colors for both light and dark chart backgrounds, ensuring visibility across different trading platform configurations.
The Show Glow Effects parameter enhances plot visibility through multiple layered lines with progressive transparency, particularly useful when analyzing multiple timeframes simultaneously or when working with dense price data that might obscure trend signals.
Performance Optimization Settings
The Maximum Bars Back parameter controls the historical data depth available for calculations, with values ranging from 5,000 to 50,000 bars. Higher values enable analysis of longer-term trend patterns but may impact indicator loading speed on slower systems or when applied to multiple instruments simultaneously. The optimal setting depends on the intended analysis timeframe and available computational resources.
The Calculate on Every Tick parameter determines whether the indicator updates with every price change or only at bar close. Real-time calculation provides immediate signal updates suitable for scalping and day trading strategies, while bar-close calculation reduces computational overhead and eliminates signal flickering during bar formation, preferred for swing trading and position management applications.
Alert System Configuration
The Alert Frequency parameter controls notification generation, with options for all signals, bar close only, or once per bar. High-frequency trading strategies benefit from all signals mode, while position traders typically prefer bar close alerts to avoid premature position entries based on intrabar fluctuations.
The alert system generates four distinct notification types: Long Signal alerts when the trend measure crosses above the positive signal threshold, Short Signal alerts for negative threshold crossings, Bull Regime alerts when entering strong bullish conditions, and Bear Regime alerts for strong bearish regime identification.
Table Display and Information Management
The information table provides real-time statistical metrics including current trend value, regime classification, signal status, and filter effectiveness measurements. The table position can be customized for optimal screen real estate utilization, and individual metrics can be toggled based on analytical requirements.
The Language parameter supports both English and German display options for international users, while maintaining consistent calculation methodology regardless of display language selection.
Risk Management Integration
Effective risk management integration requires coordination between the trend measure signals and position sizing algorithms. Strong trend readings (above 0.5 or below -0.5) support larger position sizes due to higher probability of trend continuation, while neutral readings (between -0.2 and 0.2) suggest reduced position sizes or range-trading strategies.
The regime classification system provides additional risk management context, with Strong Bull and Strong Bear regimes supporting trend-following strategies, while Neutral regimes indicate potential for mean reversion approaches. The filter effectiveness metric helps traders assess current market conditions and adjust strategy parameters accordingly.
Timeframe Considerations and Multi-Timeframe Analysis
The indicator's effectiveness varies across different timeframes, with higher timeframes (daily, weekly) providing more reliable trend identification but slower signal generation, while lower timeframes (hourly, 15-minute) offer faster signals with increased noise levels. Multi-timeframe analysis combining trend alignment across multiple periods significantly improves signal quality and reduces false positive rates.
For optimal results, traders should consider trend alignment between the primary trading timeframe and at least one higher timeframe before entering positions. Divergences between timeframes often signal potential trend reversals or consolidation periods requiring strategy adjustment.
Conclusion
The Tzotchev Trend Measure represents a significant advancement in technical analysis methodology, combining rigorous statistical foundations with practical trading applications. Its implementation of the J.P. Morgan research methodology provides institutional-quality trend analysis capabilities previously available only to sophisticated quantitative trading firms.
The comprehensive parameter configuration options enable customization for diverse trading styles and market conditions, while the advanced noise filtering and regime detection capabilities provide superior signal quality compared to traditional trend-following indicators. Proper parameter selection and understanding of the indicator's statistical foundation are essential for achieving optimal trading results and effective risk management.
References
Abramowitz, M. and Stegun, I.A. (1964). Handbook of Mathematical Functions with Formulas, Graphs, and Mathematical Tables. Washington: National Bureau of Standards.
Ang, A. and Bekaert, G. (2002). Regime Switches in Interest Rates. Journal of Business and Economic Statistics, 20(2), 163-182.
Asness, C.S., Moskowitz, T.J., and Pedersen, L.H. (2013). Value and Momentum Everywhere. Journal of Finance, 68(3), 929-985.
Bollinger, J. (2001). Bollinger on Bollinger Bands. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Fama, E.F. and French, K.R. (1988). Permanent and Temporary Components of Stock Prices. Journal of Political Economy, 96(2), 246-273.
Hurst, B., Ooi, Y.H., and Pedersen, L.H. (2013). Demystifying Managed Futures. Journal of Investment Management, 11(3), 42-58.
Jegadeesh, N. and Titman, S. (2001). Profitability of Momentum Strategies: An Evaluation of Alternative Explanations. Journal of Finance, 56(2), 699-720.
Kaufman, P.J. (2013). Trading Systems and Methods. 5th Edition. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons.
Moskowitz, T.J., Ooi, Y.H., and Pedersen, L.H. (2012). Time Series Momentum. Journal of Financial Economics, 104(2), 228-250.
Tzotchev, D., Lo, A.W., and Hasanhodzic, J. (2015). Designing robust trend-following system: Behind the scenes of trend-following. J.P. Morgan Quantitative Research, Asset Management Division.
Extreme Zone Volume ProfileExtreme Zone Volume Profile (EZVP)
Originality & Innovation
The Extreme Zone Volume Profile (EZVP) revolutionizes traditional volume profile analysis by applying statistical zone classification to volume distribution. Unlike standard volume profiles that display raw volume data, EZVP segments the price range into statistically meaningful zones based on percentile thresholds, allowing traders to instantly identify where volume concentration suggests strong support/resistance versus areas of potential breakout.
Technical Methodology
Core Algorithm:
Distributes volume across user-defined bins (20-200) over a lookback period
Calculates volume-weighted price levels for each bin
Applies percentile-based zone classification to the price range (not volume ranking)
Zone B (extreme zones): Outer percentile tails representing potential rejection areas
Zone A (significant zones): Secondary percentile bands indicating strong interest levels
Center Zone: Bulk trading range where most price discovery occurs
Mathematical Foundation:
The script uses price-range percentiles rather than volume percentiles. If the total price range is divided into 100%, Zone B captures the extreme price tails (default 2.5% each end ≈ 2 standard deviations), Zone A captures the next significant bands (default 14% each ≈ 1 standard deviation), leaving the center for normal distribution trading.
Key Calculations:
POC (Point of Control): Price level with maximum volume accumulation
Volume-weighted mean price: Total volume × price / total volume
Median price: Geometric center of the price range
Rightward-projected bars: Volume bars extend forward from current time to avoid historical chart clutter
Trading Applications
Zone Interpretation:
Zone B (Red/Green): Extreme price levels where volume suggests strong rejection potential. Price reaching these zones often indicates overextension and possible reversal points.
Zone A (Orange/Teal): Significant support/resistance areas with substantial volume interest. These levels often act as intermediate targets or consolidation zones.
Center (Gray): Fair value area where most trading occurs. Price tends to return to this range during normal market conditions.
Strategic Usage:
Reversal Trading: Look for rejection signals when price enters Zone B areas
Breakout Confirmation: Volume expansion beyond Zone B boundaries suggests genuine breakouts
Support/Resistance: Zone A boundaries often provide reliable entry/exit levels
Mean Reversion: Price tends to gravitate toward the volume-weighted mean and POC lines
Unique Value Proposition
EZVP addresses three key limitations of traditional volume profiles:
Visual Clarity: Standard profiles can be cluttered and difficult to interpret quickly. EZVP's color-coded zones provide instant visual feedback about price significance.
Statistical Framework: Rather than relying on subjective interpretation of volume nodes, EZVP applies objective percentile-based classification, making support/resistance identification more systematic.
Forward-Looking Display: Rightward-projecting bars keep historical price action clean while maintaining current market structure visibility.
Configuration Guide
Lookback Period (10-1000): Controls the historical depth of volume calculation. Shorter periods for intraday scalping, longer for swing trading.
Number of Bins (20-200): Resolution of volume distribution. Higher values provide more granular analysis but may create noise on lower timeframes.
Zone Percentages:
Zone B: Extreme threshold (default 2.5% = ~2σ statistical significance)
Zone A: Significant threshold (default 14% = ~1σ statistical significance)
Visual Controls: Toggle individual elements (POC, median, mean, zone lines) to customize display complexity for your trading style.
Technical Requirements
Pine Script v6 compatible
Maximum bars back: 5000 (ensures sufficient historical data)
Maximum boxes: 500 (supports high-resolution bin counts)
Maximum lines: 50 (accommodates all zone and reference lines)
This indicator synthesizes volume profile theory with statistical zone analysis, providing a quantitative framework for identifying high-probability support/resistance levels based on volume distribution patterns rather than arbitrary price levels.
Globex Trap w/ percentage [SLICKRICK]Globex Trap w/ Percentage
Overview
The Globex Trap w/ Percentage indicator is a powerful tool designed to help traders identify high-probability trading opportunities by analyzing price action during the Globex (overnight) session and regular trading hours. By combining Globex session ranges with Supply & Demand zones, this indicator highlights potential "trap" areas where significant price reactions may occur. Additionally, it calculates the Globex session range as a percentage of the daily Average True Range (ATR), providing valuable context for assessing market volatility.
This indicator is ideal for traders in futures markets or other instruments traded during Globex sessions, offering a visual and analytical edge for spotting key price levels and potential reversals or breakouts.
Key Features
Globex Session Tracking:
Visualizes the high and low of the Globex session (default: 3:00 PM to 6:30 AM PST) with customizable time settings.
Displays a semi-transparent box to mark the Globex range, with labels for "Globex High" and "Globex Low."
Calculates the Globex range as a percentage of the daily ATR, displayed as a label for quick reference.
Supply & Demand Zones:
Identifies Supply & Demand zones during regular trading hours (default: 6:00 AM to 8:00 AM PST) with customizable time settings.
Draws semi-transparent boxes to highlight these zones, aiding in the identification of key support and resistance areas.
Trap Area Identification:
Highlights potential trap zones where Globex ranges and Supply & Demand zones overlap, indicating areas where price may reverse or consolidate due to trapped traders.
Customizable Settings:
Adjust Globex and Supply & Demand session times to suit your trading preferences.
Toggle visibility of Globex and Supply & Demand zones independently.
Customize box colors for better chart readability.
Set the lookback period (default: 10 days) to control how many historical zones are displayed.
Configure the ATR length (default: 14) for the percentage calculation.
PST Timezone Default:
All times are based on Pacific Standard Time (PST) by default, ensuring accurate session tracking for users in this timezone or those aligning with U.S. West Coast market hours.
Recommended Usage
Timeframes: Best used on 1-hour charts or lower (e.g., 15-minute, 5-minute) for precise entry and exit points.
Markets: Optimized for futures (e.g., ES, NQ, CL) and other instruments traded during Globex sessions.
Historical Data: Ensure at least 10 days of historical data for optimal visualization of zones.
Strategy Integration: Use the indicator to identify potential reversals or breakouts at Globex highs/lows or Supply & Demand zones. The ATR percentage provides context for whether the Globex range is significant relative to typical daily volatility.
How It Works
Globex Session:
Tracks the high and low prices during the user-defined Globex session (default: 3:00 PM to 6:30 AM PST).
When the session ends, a box is drawn from the start to the end of the session, capturing the high and low prices.
Labels are placed at the midpoint of the session, showing "Globex High," "Globex Low," and the range as a percentage of the daily ATR (e.g., "75.23% of Daily ATR").
Supply & Demand Zones:
Tracks the high and low prices during the user-defined regular trading hours (default: 6:00 AM to 8:00 AM PST).
Draws a box to mark these zones, which often act as key support or resistance levels.
ATR Percentage:
Calculates the Globex range (high minus low) and divides it by the daily ATR to express it as a percentage.
This metric helps traders gauge whether the overnight price movement is significant compared to the instrument’s typical volatility.
Time Handling:
Uses PST (UTC-8) for all time calculations, ensuring accurate session timing for users aligning with this timezone.
Properly handles overnight sessions that cross midnight, ensuring seamless tracking.
Input Settings
Globex Session Settings:
Show Globex Session: Enable/disable Globex session visualization (default: true).
Globex Start/End Time: Set the start and end times for the Globex session (default: 3:00 PM to 6:30 AM PST).
Globex Box Color: Customize the color of the Globex session box (default: semi-transparent gray).
Supply & Demand Zone Settings:
Show Supply & Demand Zone: Enable/disable zone visualization (default: true).
Zone Start/End Time: Set the start and end times for Supply & Demand zones (default: 6:00 AM to 8:00 AM PST).
Zone Box Color: Customize the color of the zone box (default: semi-transparent aqua).
General Settings:
Days to Look Back: Number of historical days to display zones (default: 10).
ATR Length: Period for calculating the daily ATR (default: 14).
Notes
All times are in Pacific Standard Time (PST). Adjust the start and end times if your market operates in a different timezone or if you prefer different session windows.
The indicator is optimized for instruments with active Globex sessions, such as futures. Results may vary for non-24/5 markets.
A typo in the label "Globe Low" (should be "Globex Low") will be corrected in future updates.
Ensure your TradingView chart is set to display sufficient historical data to view the full lookback period.
Why Use This Indicator?
The Globex Trap w/ Percentage indicator provides a unique combination of session-based range analysis, Supply & Demand zone identification, and volatility context via the ATR percentage. Whether you’re a day trader, swing trader, or scalper, this tool helps you:
Pinpoint key price levels where institutional traders may act.
Assess the significance of overnight price movements relative to daily volatility.
Identify potential trap zones for high-probability setups.
Customize the indicator to fit your trading style and market preferences.
Polynomial Regression HeatmapPolynomial Regression Heatmap – Advanced Trend & Volatility Visualizer
Overview
The Polynomial Regression Heatmap is a sophisticated trading tool designed for traders who require a clear and precise understanding of market trends and volatility. By applying a second-degree polynomial regression to price data, the indicator generates a smooth trend curve, augmented with adaptive volatility bands and a dynamic heatmap. This framework allows users to instantly recognize trend direction, potential reversals, and areas of market strength or weakness, translating complex price action into a visually intuitive map.
Unlike static trend indicators, the Polynomial Regression Heatmap adapts to changing market conditions. Its visual design—including color-coded candles, regression bands, optional polynomial channels, and breakout markers—ensures that price behavior is easy to interpret. This makes it suitable for scalping, swing trading, and longer-term strategies across multiple asset classes.
How It Works
The core of the indicator relies on fitting a second-degree polynomial to a defined lookback period of price data. This regression curve captures the non-linear nature of market movements, revealing the true trajectory of price beyond the distortions of noise or short-term volatility.
Adaptive upper and lower bands are constructed using ATR-based scaling, surrounding the regression line to reflect periods of high and low volatility. When price moves toward or beyond these bands, it signals areas of potential overextension or support/resistance.
The heatmap colors each candle based on its relative position within the bands. Green shades indicate proximity to the upper band, red shades indicate proximity to the lower band, and neutral tones represent mid-range positioning. This continuous gradient visualization provides immediate feedback on trend strength, market balance, and potential turning points.
Optional polynomial channels can be overlaid around the regression curve. These three-line channels are based on regression residuals and a fixed width multiplier, offering additional reference points for analyzing price deviations, trend continuation, and reversion zones.
Signals and Breakouts
The Polynomial Regression Heatmap includes statistical pivot-based signals to highlight actionable price movements:
Buy Signals – A triangular marker appears below the candle when a pivot low occurs below the lower regression band.
Sell Signals – A triangular marker appears above the candle when a pivot high occurs above the upper regression band.
These markers identify significant deviations from the regression curve while accounting for volatility, providing high-quality visual cues for potential entry points.
The indicator ensures clarity by spacing markers vertically using ATR-based calculations, preventing overlap during periods of high volatility. Users can rely on these signals in combination with heatmap intensity and regression slope for contextual confirmation.
Interpretation
Trend Analysis :
The slope of the polynomial regression line represents trend direction. A rising curve indicates bullish bias, a falling curve indicates bearish bias, and a flat curve indicates consolidation.
Steeper slopes suggest stronger momentum, while gradual slopes indicate more moderate trend conditions.
Volatility Assessment :
Band width provides an instant visual measure of market volatility. Narrow bands correspond to low volatility and potential consolidation, whereas wide bands indicate higher volatility and significant price swings.
Heatmap Coloring :
Candle colors visually represent price position within the bands. This allows traders to quickly identify zones of bullish or bearish pressure without performing complex calculations.
Channel Analysis (Optional) :
The polynomial channel defines zones for evaluating potential overextensions or retracements. Price interacting with these lines may suggest areas where mean-reversion or trend continuation is likely.
Breakout Signals :
Buy and Sell markers highlight pivot points relative to the regression and volatility bands. These are statistical signals, not arbitrary triggers, and should be interpreted in context with trend slope, band width, and heatmap intensity.
Strategy Integration
The Polynomial Regression Heatmap supports multiple trading approaches:
Trend Following – Enter trades in the direction of the regression slope while using the heatmap for momentum confirmation.
Pullback Entries – Use breakouts or deviations from the regression bands as low-risk entry points during trend continuation.
Mean Reversion – Price reaching outer channel boundaries can indicate potential reversal or retracement opportunities.
Multi-Timeframe Alignment – Overlay on higher and lower timeframes to filter noise and improve entry timing.
Stop-loss levels can be set just beyond the opposing regression band, while take-profit targets can be informed by the distance between the bands or the curvature of the polynomial line.
Advanced Techniques
For traders seeking greater precision:
Combine the Polynomial Regression Heatmap with volume, momentum, or volatility indicators to validate signals.
Observe the width and slope of the regression bands over time to anticipate expanding or contracting volatility.
Track sequences of breakout signals in conjunction with heatmap intensity for systematic trade management.
Adjusting regression length allows customization for different assets or timeframes, balancing responsiveness and smoothing. The combination of polynomial curve, adaptive bands, heatmap, and optional channels provides a comprehensive statistical framework for informed decision-making.
Inputs and Customization
Regression Length – Determines the number of bars used for polynomial fitting. Shorter lengths increase responsiveness; longer lengths improve smoothing.
Show Bands – Toggle visibility of the ATR-based regression bands.
Show Channel – Enable or disable the polynomial channel overlay.
Color Settings – Customize bullish, bearish, neutral, and accent colors for clarity and visual preference.
All other internal parameters are fixed to ensure consistent statistical behavior and minimize potential misconfiguration.
Why Use Polynomial Regression Heatmap
The Polynomial Regression Heatmap transforms complex price action into a clear, actionable visual framework. By combining non-linear trend mapping, adaptive volatility bands, heatmap visualization, and breakout signals, it provides a multi-dimensional perspective that is both quantitative and intuitive.
This indicator allows traders to focus on execution, interpret market structure at a glance, and evaluate trend strength, overextensions, and potential reversals in real time. Its design is compatible with scalping, swing trading, and long-term strategies, providing a robust tool for disciplined, data-driven trading.
Ludvig Indicator PROThe Ludvig Indicator is designed to identify high-probability breakout setups by combining trend, volume, volatility, and relative strength filters. It helps you enter stocks (or ETFs/crypto) when institutional money is likely flowing in, while avoiding false breakouts and weak trends.
🔑 Core Features
Zero-Lag EMA (ZLEMA)
Faster, less lagging trend detection compared to traditional EMAs.
Used as the basis for dynamic ATR bands.
ATR Volatility Bands
Adaptive bands based on the Average True Range (ATR).
Define the zone where price must close outside to confirm trend strength.
Breakout Confirmation
Requires price to close above recent highs (lookback configurable).
Ensures signals are “true breakouts,” not just noise around moving averages.
Volume Filter (Relative Volume)
Validates breakouts with significantly higher volume than average.
Prevents low-liquidity signals from triggering.
Trend Strength (ADX)
Built-in ADX calculation ensures only strong, trending moves are considered.
Default filter: ADX ≥ 18 (configurable).
Relative Strength vs. Benchmark
Compares the asset’s momentum against a benchmark (default: SPY).
Only signals when the asset is outperforming the benchmark.
Useful for sector rotation and picking leaders instead of laggards.
Alerts & Signals
Breakout entries are marked with small green triangles.
Built-in alerts for automated notifications (TradingView alerts).
EMA21/SMA21 + ATR Bands SuiteThe EMA/SMA + ATR Bands Suite is a powerful technical overlay built around one of the most universally respected zones in trading: the 21-period moving average. By combining both the EMA21 and SMA21 into a unified framework, this tool defines the short-term mean with greater clarity and reliability, offering a more complete picture of trend structure, directional bias, and price equilibrium. These two moving averages serve as the central anchor — and from them, the script dynamically calculates adaptive ATR bands that expand and contract with market volatility. Whether you trade breakouts, pullbacks, or reversion setups, the 21 midline combined with ATR extensions offers a powerful lens for real-time market interpretation — adaptable to any timeframe or asset.
🔍 What's Inside?
✅ EMA21 + SMA21 Full Plots and Reduced-History Segments using arrays:
Enable full plots or segmented lines for the most recent candles only with automatic color coding. The reduced-history plots are perfect for reducing clutter on your chart.
✅ ATR Bands (2.5x & 5x):
Adaptive ATR-based volatility envelopes plotted around the midline (EMA21 + SMA21) to indicate:
🔸Potential reversion zones.
🔸Trend continuation breakouts.
🔸Dynamic support/resistance levels.
🔸 Expanding or contracting volatility states
🔸 Trend-aware color changes — yellow when both bands are rising, purple when falling, and gray when direction is mixed
✅ Dual MA Fills (EMA21/SMA21):
Visually track when short-term momentum shifts using a fill between EMA21 and SMA21
✅ EMA5 & EMA200 Labels:
Display anchored labels with rounded values + % difference from price, helping you track short-term + macro trends in real-time.
✅ Intelligent Bar Coloring
Bars are automatically colored based on both price direction and position relative to the EMA/SMA. This provides instant visual feedback on trend strength and structural alignment — no need to second-guess the market tone.
✅ Dynamic Close Line Tools:
Track recent price action with flexible close-following lines
✅ RSI Overlay on Candles:
Optional RSI + RSI SMA displayed above the current bar, with automatic color logic.
🎯 Use Cases
➖Trend Traders can identify when price is stacked bullishly across moving averages and breaking above ATR zones.
➖Mean Reversion Traders can fade extremes at 2.5x or 5x ATR zones.
➖Scalpers get immediate trend insight from colored bar overlays and close-following lines.
➖Swing Traders can combine multi-timeframe EMAs with volatility thresholds for higher confluence.
📌 Final Note:
As powerful as this script can be, no single indicator should be used in isolation. For best results, combine it with price action analysis, higher-timeframe context, and complementary tools like trendlines, moving averages, or support/resistance levels. Use it as part of a well-rounded trading approach to confirm setups — not to define them alone.
