# Wide-range Bar Also known as: close-location value conventions. A Chart & Candlestick Patterns concept (Single/multi-bar (western)) in the LuxAlgo Library, with 1 indicator implementation. ## What is a Wide-range Bar? A wide-range bar (WRB) is a bar whose high-to-low span is unusually large for its context. There is no single threshold: common conventions flag the largest range of the last N bars, or a range beyond some multiple of recent average range or ATR (average true range). Whatever the rule, the object measured is the same: a bar on which the market traveled far more than it typically does. Range expansion typically marks the arrival of initiative participation, so a WRB usually appears where something changed: the thrust out of compression, the acceleration of a trend, or the climax that ends one. The close's location inside the bar is the standard tiebreaker; some conventions score it explicitly as a close-location value within the bar's low-to-high span. A close pinned near an extreme reads as one-sided conviction; a wide bar closing mid-range records a fight rather than a winner. The vocabulary comes from short-term futures research of the late 1980s and 1990s: Toby Crabel's opening-range-breakout studies measured each session's range against its recent neighbors and treated contraction and expansion as alternating phases, with narrow-range days such as NR4 and NR7 on one side, wide-spread days on the other. Later pattern work, including the momentum-candle detectors indexed here, kept the same test: compare a bar's travel to a trailing baseline, flag the outliers. A WRB is the size dimension of bar analysis, silent about shape. A [doji](https://www.luxalgo.com/library/concept/doji/) is a vanishing body, a marubozu a body filling the whole candle, a [pin bar](https://www.luxalgo.com/library/concept/pin-bar/) a dominant wick, an outside bar a range swallowing its predecessor; a WRB can be any of these, or none, and a marubozu can be small. That independence makes it useful in combination: a wide-range [engulfing bar](https://www.luxalgo.com/library/concept/engulfing-bar/) through a level says more than either alone, and size folds naturally into broader [candlestick patterns](https://www.luxalgo.com/library/concept/candlestick-patterns/) reading. ## How to identify a wide-range bar Identification is a measurement against recent context rather than a shape match; the first step is choosing the baseline. 1. Pick a definition: the widest high-to-low span of the last N bars (7 is common, mirroring NR7), or a span exceeding a multiple of the trailing average range or ATR. 2. Scan for bars that satisfy it, letting the threshold float with the instrument's volatility; fixed point sizes do not transfer across symbols. 3. Score the close's location within the span, near the high, the low, or mid-range; this assigns the directional read. 4. Place the bar in its move: emerging from compression such as narrow bars or an [inside bar](https://www.luxalgo.com/library/concept/inside-bar/), extending an established trend, or erupting after a long advance or decline. 5. Cross-check participation and structure: expanding volume strengthens the read on session markets; note whether the bar cleared a level, completed a [two-bar reversal](https://www.luxalgo.com/library/concept/two-bar-reversal/), or left a gap inviting a later [gap fill](https://www.luxalgo.com/library/concept/gap-fill/). ## How it's calculated Flags bars whose high-to-low range is unusually large relative to recent bars, with the close's position inside the range giving direction. ``` 1. Compute each bar's range: Range_t = H_t - L_t (true range is a common substitute in gapping markets). 2. Build the reference: AvgRange_t = SMA_n(Range), the average range of the last n bars. 3. Flag a wide-range bar when Range_t > k × AvgRange_t. 4. Alternative convention (WR-N): flag bar t when Range_t > max(Range over the prior N - 1 bars), making it the widest bar of the last N; WR7 marks the widest of the last 7. 5. Locate the close inside the bar: CLV_t = ((C_t - L_t) - (H_t - C_t)) / (H_t - L_t), which runs from -1 (close at the low) to +1 (close at the high). 6. Read direction: bullish when the wide bar closes in its upper portion (e.g. CLV_t >= 0.5), bearish when it closes in its lower portion (e.g. CLV_t <= -0.5). H: bar high L: bar low C: bar close t: current bar index SMA_n(x): simple moving average of x over n bars n: averaging lookback (commonly 10 to 20) k: width multiplier (commonly 1.5 to 2) N: window for the WR-N convention, current bar included (7 in WR7) ``` There is no single universal threshold; k, n, and the CLV cutoffs are conventions that vary by author and platform. The WR-N idea parallels Toby Crabel's range studies, where WS7 (wide spread 7) marks the widest range of the last 7 days and NR7 the narrowest. CLV is the same close location value used inside the accumulation/distribution line. ## How traders use it - As breakout validation: a WRB that closes near its extreme while clearing a level is the textbook signature of an initiative break, and many breakout systems require one, often with volume expansion, before trusting the move. - As an exhaustion flag: a WRB late in an extended trend, especially one closing well off its extreme, is a candidate for climactic action; the same bar shape means opposite things at the start and end of a move. - As a volatility event for risk management: a WRB inflates ATR, which widens ATR-based stops and shrinks volatility-scaled position sizes on subsequent bars, so some systems treat it as a regime input rather than a trade signal. - As the release in contraction-expansion setups: after narrow bars, an inside-bar sequence, or a [hikkake](https://www.luxalgo.com/library/concept/hikkake/) trap, the first wide-range bar sets the directional tone many traders trade with rather than against. - As a pattern qualifier: requiring the trigger candle of a [bullish or bearish engulfing](https://www.luxalgo.com/library/concept/bullish-bearish-engulfing/) or the third candle of a [morning star](https://www.luxalgo.com/library/concept/morning-star/) to also be wide-range filters out weak instances. ## Wide-range Bar vs. related bar concepts - **Engulfing Bar** (https://www.luxalgo.com/library/concept/engulfing-bar/): An engulfing bar is measured against the prior bar's range; a WRB is measured against a trailing baseline. A bar can be wide-range without engulfing anything, and vice versa. - **Outside Bar** (https://www.luxalgo.com/library/concept/outside-bar/): An outside bar is defined relationally: its high and low exceed the prior bar's. It is often also wide-range but need not be; one test compares against the prior bar, the other against recent typical travel. - **Inside Bar** (https://www.luxalgo.com/library/concept/inside-bar/): The inside bar is the contraction that often precedes the expansion: a range contained entirely within the prior bar. The two form a natural volatility-cycle sequence: compression as setup, the wide-range bar as release. ## FAQ ### How big does a bar have to be to count as a wide-range bar? There is no universal cutoff. Common definitions include the widest range of the last several bars, or a range exceeding a chosen multiple of average range or ATR. Whatever rule is used should scale with the instrument's own volatility, which is why fixed point thresholds travel poorly across symbols and timeframes. ### Is a wide-range bar bullish or bearish? By itself, neither. Direction comes from the close's location and the bar's position in the move: a close near the high while clearing resistance early in a leg reads as initiative buying, while an equally wide bar closing near its low after a long advance warns of climax. Context assigns the meaning; the range only says that participation arrived. ### Do wide-range bars need volume confirmation? It helps where volume is meaningful: on stocks and futures, range expansion on expanding volume reads as genuine initiative, while a wide bar on thin holiday or overnight trade is suspect. On spot forex, tick volume is weaker evidence, so structure and close location carry more weight. ### What does a wide-range bar that closes mid-range mean? Two-sided fighting at unusual intensity: both sides committed and neither won, closer in spirit to an oversized doji than a momentum bar. After a long trend it often belongs to topping or bottoming action; mid-trend it often just precedes more volatility. Treat it as a prompt to tighten risk, not a directional signal. ### Should I chase a wide-range breakout bar? Entering at its close means accepting a distant stop with much of the impulse spent. Common alternatives: wait for a retracement toward the bar's midpoint, or require the next bar to hold the new ground. The trade-off is real: strong breaks sometimes never look back, and patience misses them. ### Is a wide-range bar the same as a momentum candle? Detector scripts that flag momentum candles, including those indexed here, typically implement a wide-range test plus a close-location or body-size condition. The label differs, but the measured object, an outsized bar with a committed close, is the same. ## Implementations in the Library - Wide-range Bar (LuxAlgo): https://www.luxalgo.com/library/indicator/wide-range-bar/ ## Related concepts - Two-bar Reversal: https://www.luxalgo.com/library/concept/two-bar-reversal/ - Three-bar Reversal: https://www.luxalgo.com/library/concept/three-bar-reversal/ - Pin Bar: https://www.luxalgo.com/library/concept/pin-bar/ - Inside Bar: https://www.luxalgo.com/library/concept/inside-bar/ - Outside Bar: https://www.luxalgo.com/library/concept/outside-bar/ - Engulfing Bar: https://www.luxalgo.com/library/concept/engulfing-bar/ - Exhaustion Bar: https://www.luxalgo.com/library/concept/exhaustion-bar/ - Hikkake: https://www.luxalgo.com/library/concept/hikkake/ - Classic Bar Setups: https://www.luxalgo.com/library/concept/classic-bar-setups/ --- Source: https://www.luxalgo.com/library/concept/wide-range-bar/ (LuxAlgo Library, the encyclopedia of trading & technical analysis). Free to use with attribution: https://www.luxalgo.com/library/license/