Concept
Wide-range Bar
Wide-range Bar, also known as close-location value conventions, is a Chart & Candlestick Patterns concept. The Library holds 5 implementations, each one a working definition you can pull into Quant.
Top Wide-range Bar indicators
5 total
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. 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, and some conventions score it explicitly as where the close finishes 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.
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 alongside a 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 its appearance as a regime input rather than a trade signal.
Wide-range Bar vs. related bar concepts
Marubozu: A marubozu is defined by what is missing: the real body covers the whole candle, with little or no wick. A WRB is defined by size relative to recent bars; it can carry long wicks, and a marubozu can be small.
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.
NR4/NR7 Narrow-range Bars: NR4/NR7 flag the opposite condition, unusually narrow ranges. The two pair naturally in volatility-cycle setups where contraction is the setup and the wide-range bar is the release.
More Wide-range Bar implementations
Related concepts · Single/multi-bar (western)
Concept family
Chart & Candlestick Patterns
84 concepts mapped · 46 in the Library
Wide-range Bar 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.
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