The Range Indicator

The Range Indicator measures whether bars are covering ground or just covering range. Each bar's true range is set against its close-to-close progress — the ratio at the heart of The Range Indicator — then normalized stochastic-style over a lookback and smoothed into a 0–100 line with a gradient fill beneath it — a clean first rendering of Weinberg's study. High readings say in-bar churn is swamping the ground gained — the condition he read as a trend-ending warning; low readings say travel is efficient.

How to Trade The Range Indicator?

• Cross above the High Threshold: churn extreme — effort rising while progress stalls; the Churn Extreme alert fires, and Churn Easing marks the cross back down.
• Cross below the Low Threshold: efficient travel — progress large relative to in-bar noise, the environment Weinberg's study associated with trending conditions; Efficient Travel and Efficiency Fading alerts bracket the stay.
• Between the thresholds: no regime claim — context for other tools, not a trigger.

The Range Indicator Settings

• Normalization Length (default 10): lookback of the stochastic-style normalization — longer makes extreme readings rarer and steadier.
• Smoothing Length (default 3): EMA applied to the normalized series; shorter is jumpier, longer slower.
• Degenerate Window Handling (default Output Zero): value used when the window's highest and lowest raw ratios coincide; Hold Previous Value is the other published convention.
• Show Thresholds (default on) with High Threshold (default 80) and Low Threshold (default 20): the churn and efficiency levels — 70 and 30 are also common.
• Style: Gradient Fill (default on).

Frequently Asked Questions

How is TRI different from the Choppiness Index?

The Choppiness Index sums true range across a whole window and compares it with the window's total span — a structural trendiness read with no reference to closes. TRI works bar by bar, dividing each bar's range by that bar's close-to-close gain, responding faster and carrying Weinberg's up-close construction.

Why do up and down bars feed the ratio differently?

The ratio only forms on up-closing bars, where true range divides by the close-to-close gain; flat or down closes contribute the raw true range instead, which keeps the denominator positive; the normalization then puts both branches on one 0–100 scale.

What is a degenerate window?

One where every raw ratio over the Normalization Length is identical, so the highest and lowest coincide and the formula would divide by zero. The handling input decides whether the build outputs zero or holds the prior reading — the two conventions in circulation.