# Projection Bands

Draws Mel Widner's complete projection suite: bands built by sliding a 14-bar window's highs and lows to the latest bar along their fitted slopes, drawn on the price chart, a 0-100 projection oscillator with a 3-period signal line and 80/20 extremes in the pane, plus optional divergences and a bandwidth gauge. Ten alerts cover band touches, extreme entries, signal crosses, divergences and bandwidth shifts.

- Indicator in the LuxAlgo Library, by LuxAlgo, published May 3, 2026.
- Access: free.
- Concepts: [Projection Bands](https://www.luxalgo.com/library/concept/projection-bands/) (primary)
- Open on Vela: https://vela.luxalgo.com/chart?pineScriptCodeId=xdxpyhxvmypm0ulg823trveo
- Page: https://www.luxalgo.com/library/indicator/projection-bands/

**Projection Bands** implements Mel Widner's slope-projected channel in its full three-part form, the first faithful build of [projection bands](https://www.luxalgo.com/library/concept/projection-bands/) in the library. Separate regression slopes are fitted to the window's highs and to its lows, every high and low is slid forward to the current bar along its own slope, and the extremes become the bands, drawn over price. Because each window bar is projected to the present, none can sit outside the channel, so this tool trades touches, not breaks.

## How to Trade the Projection Bands?

- **Band touch**: price reaching the upper or lower band is pressing the boundary of its own trend-tilted channel. Both touches are alerted.
- **Overbought and oversold entries**: the Projection Oscillator crossing 80 or 20 marks an extreme relative to the trend, readable where a flat-range oscillator would sit pegged.
- **Signal crosses**: crossings of the short signal line time turns inside the channel. Both directions carry alerts.
- **Divergences and bandwidth**: regular divergences flag moves losing position inside their own channel; bandwidth crossings of its average mark compression and expansion.

## Projection Bands Settings

- **Length** (default 14): the lookback window n.
- **Show Bands on Price Chart** (default on).
- **Signal Length** (default 3): SMA of the oscillator forming the signal line, with **Show Signal Line** (on).
- **Overbought** (default 80) and **Oversold** (default 20): the oscillator's extreme levels.
- **Show Divergences** (default off) with **Pivot Length** (default 5): the drawings; their alerts work regardless.
- **Show Bandwidth** (default off): plots 200 x (upper - lower) / (upper + lower) as a volatility gauge.
- **Gradient Fill** (on): shading from the 50 midline to the oscillator.

## Frequently Asked Questions

### Why read the projection oscillator instead of a stochastic?

Both place the close inside a recent range, but the [Stochastic](https://www.luxalgo.com/library/indicator/stochastic/) works from the raw high-low span, so a steady trend pins it at an extreme for bars on end. The projection oscillator measures against a channel tilted along the regression slopes, registering genuine extremes even while the trend runs.

### Why are there no breakout signals?

By construction: the bands sit at the extremes of the window's projected highs and lows, so nothing inside the window can escape them. The information lives at the boundary (touches, oscillator extremes and divergences), not in escaping it.

### Do the divergences repaint?

A divergence is only flagged once its oscillator pivot confirms, Pivot Length bars after the extreme, 5 by default. The label arrives with a delay but does not vanish afterward, and the alerts fire on the same confirmed condition.

## Related indicators

- [Nadaraya-Watson Envelope](https://www.luxalgo.com/library/indicator/nadaraya-watson-envelope/) (Envelope): markdown at https://www.luxalgo.com/library/indicator/nadaraya-watson-envelope.md
- [TTM Squeeze](https://www.luxalgo.com/library/indicator/ttm-squeeze/) (Volatility): markdown at https://www.luxalgo.com/library/indicator/ttm-squeeze.md
- [Fibonacci Bollinger Bands](https://www.luxalgo.com/library/indicator/fibonacci-bollinger-bands/) (Volatility): markdown at https://www.luxalgo.com/library/indicator/fibonacci-bollinger-bands.md
- [Double Bollinger Zones](https://www.luxalgo.com/library/indicator/double-bollinger-zones/) (Volatility): markdown at https://www.luxalgo.com/library/indicator/double-bollinger-zones.md
- [Proximal Range Filter](https://www.luxalgo.com/library/indicator/proximal-range-filter/) (Envelope): markdown at https://www.luxalgo.com/library/indicator/proximal-range-filter.md
- [Bollinger Squeeze](https://www.luxalgo.com/library/indicator/bollinger-squeeze/) (Volatility): markdown at https://www.luxalgo.com/library/indicator/bollinger-squeeze.md
- [Bollinger Bands Breakout Oscillator](https://www.luxalgo.com/library/indicator/bollinger-bands-breakout-oscillator/) (Bollinger Bands): markdown at https://www.luxalgo.com/library/indicator/bollinger-bands-breakout-oscillator.md
- [Donchian MA Bands](https://www.luxalgo.com/library/indicator/donchian-ma-bands/) (Donchian Channels): markdown at https://www.luxalgo.com/library/indicator/donchian-ma-bands.md

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Source: https://www.luxalgo.com/library/indicator/projection-bands/ (LuxAlgo Library). Free to use with attribution: https://www.luxalgo.com/library/license/
