# RSI Bands

RSI Bands is an indicator on [Vela](https://vela.luxalgo.com/chart), our next-generation charting platform, written in Pine Script®.

RSI Bands solves Wilder's RSI backward and plots the prices at which RSI would print 70, 30 and 50 on the current bar - an overbought band, an oversold band and a midline drawn in the price pane. The bands use a 14-bar length on the close and exact algebra rather than estimates, gradient fills span midline to band, and alerts cover band tags, releases and midline crosses.

- Indicator in the LuxAlgo Library, by LuxAlgo, published Mar 15, 2026.
- Access: free.
- Concepts: [RSI Bands](https://www.luxalgo.com/library/concept/rsi-bands/) (primary)
- Open on Vela: https://vela.luxalgo.com/chart?pineScriptCodeId=phwqasalacsfgpsbrq9vhmjl
- Page: https://www.luxalgo.com/library/indicator/rsi-bands/

**RSI Bands** turns RSI thresholds into chart levels: each bar it runs Wilder's arithmetic in reverse, recovering the price where RSI would sit at exactly 70, 30 or 50, and plots the three answers in the price pane as an upper band, a lower band and a midline. Wilder's smoothing is recursive, so the averages entering the current bar are already settled and price is the only unknown. This build of [RSI Bands](https://www.luxalgo.com/library/concept/rsi-bands/) solves it exactly, always agreeing with a standard 14-period RSI on the same source.

## How to Trade the RSI Bands?

- **Band tags**: price reaching a band is, by definition, RSI reaching the matching threshold, visible in advance, a natural place for alerts or resting orders.
- **Midline**: price holding above the 50 line keeps RSI in its bullish half, and holding below keeps it bearish, a trend divider drawn on the chart itself.
- **Band width**: the gradient-filled span is the ground price must cover before RSI hits an extreme. Wide bands demand a large move, tight ones tip on a small push.

Six alerts cover tags and releases of both bands plus midline crosses, and optional circles mark each tag.

## RSI Bands Settings

- **RSI Length** (default 14): lookback the bands invert; the same smoothed gain and loss averages drive both the oscillator and the solved levels.
- **Source** (default close): series the RSI runs on and the space the bands are solved in.
- **Overbought Level** (default 70) and **Oversold Level** (default 30): thresholds solved into price: 80/20 yields stricter bands.
- **RSI 50 Midline** (default enabled): the solved trend divider.
- **Gradient Fill** (default enabled) and **Band Tag Markers** (default disabled); the three color inputs set each band and the midline.

## Frequently Asked Questions

### How are RSI Bands different from Bollinger Bands?

[Bollinger Bands](https://www.luxalgo.com/library/indicator/bollinger-bands/) place an envelope at a standard-deviation offset around a moving average, a volatility construction. RSI Bands are inverted momentum thresholds: each line is the price that would push RSI to a given level on this bar, so the pair drifts with the smoothed gain-loss balance rather than with dispersion.

### Can price ride above the upper band?

Yes, for the same reason RSI can stay pinned overbought: in a strong uptrend the solved level keeps climbing beneath price. Read a band walk as strength first; the cross back below the band is the release event the exit-side alert tracks.

### Does the inversion work on sources other than the close?

Yes. The algebra needs only the input series, so a different source solves for that series' value instead. With the default close, a bar that finishes right on a band lines up with RSI printing that threshold.

## Related indicators

- [RSI Divergence: Out-of-Sample Optimizer](https://www.luxalgo.com/library/indicator/rsi-divergence-out-of-sample-optimizer/) (RSI): markdown at https://www.luxalgo.com/library/indicator/rsi-divergence-out-of-sample-optimizer.md
- [Ultimate RSI](https://www.luxalgo.com/library/indicator/ultimate-rsi/) (RSI): markdown at https://www.luxalgo.com/library/indicator/ultimate-rsi.md
- [RSI Failure Swing](https://www.luxalgo.com/library/indicator/rsi-failure-swing/) (Momentum & Oscillators): markdown at https://www.luxalgo.com/library/indicator/rsi-failure-swing.md
- [RSI-2](https://www.luxalgo.com/library/indicator/rsi-2/) (Momentum & Oscillators): markdown at https://www.luxalgo.com/library/indicator/rsi-2.md
- [RSI Candlestick Oscillator](https://www.luxalgo.com/library/indicator/rsi-candlestick-oscillator/) (RSI): markdown at https://www.luxalgo.com/library/indicator/rsi-candlestick-oscillator.md
- [RSI Multi Length](https://www.luxalgo.com/library/indicator/rsi-multi-length/) (RSI): markdown at https://www.luxalgo.com/library/indicator/rsi-multi-length.md
- [RSI of Other Sources](https://www.luxalgo.com/library/indicator/rsi-of-other-sources/) (Momentum & Oscillators): markdown at https://www.luxalgo.com/library/indicator/rsi-of-other-sources.md
- [Adaptive Bounds RSI](https://www.luxalgo.com/library/indicator/adaptive-bounds-rsi/) (RSI): markdown at https://www.luxalgo.com/library/indicator/adaptive-bounds-rsi.md

---

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