Gator Oscillator

Gator Oscillator re-expresses the Alligator's three displaced averages as two mirrored histograms around zero — the first faithful build of the Gator Oscillator in the library. The Upper Histogram (Jaw - Teeth) plots the absolute spread between the displaced jaw and teeth, the Lower Histogram (Teeth - Lips) mirrors the teeth-lips spread below zero, and each side colors against its own previous bar: green when the spread grew, red when it shrank.

How to Trade the Gator Oscillator?

• Both sides red (Sleeping): both spreads are narrowing at once — a ranging stretch where trend entries are conventionally avoided.
• One side turns green (Awakening): the first sign of separation; direction still has to come from price, since the histograms are unsigned spreads.
• Both sides green (Eating): the trend phase is fully underway.
• One side back to red (Sated): after an eating run, the move may be losing steam — a common cue to tighten stops.
• Deep Sleep: an alert after a configured run of sleeping bars, flagging extended convergence.

All five transitions carry alerts, and the dashboard shows the phase, its age in bars and both spreads.

Gator Oscillator Settings

• Source (default hl2): price series fed to the three averages — median price in the original recipe.
• Smoothing (default SMMA (Wilder)): SMA and EMA substitutes shift the spreads and phases slightly.
• Jaw Length (default 13) with Offset (default 8), Teeth Length (default 8) with Offset (default 5), Lips Length (default 5) with Offset (default 3): the classic lengths and forward displacements.
• Deep Sleep After (bars) (default 10): consecutive sleeping bars before the deep-sleep alert.
• Show Dashboard (default enabled) with Position (default Top Right) and Size (default Small); Phase Background (default disabled) tints the pane by phase.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I still need the Alligator overlay on my chart?

They are the same three averages in two views: the Williams Alligator shows where the lines sit relative to price, while this histogram shows only how far apart they are. Many traders run the overlay for direction and the Gator for phase timing.

Does a green column mean the market is bullish?

No. Color compares each side with its own previous bar — green means the spread widened, red that it narrowed. The histograms are absolute distances and say nothing about direction.

Why do the histograms use displaced averages?

Each average is shifted forward by its offset before the spreads are measured, matching how the lines are actually drawn. Change an offset and the spreads, colors and phases move with it.