Wide-range Bar

Wide-range Bar is the definitive clean build of wide-range bar detection: it flags bars that traveled far more than their recent context and reads conviction from where they closed. Two conventions ship as a switch — the widest span among its last N bars, or a bar exceeding a multiple of trailing average range or ATR — with the baseline taken one bar back so a bar never inflates its own threshold.

How to Trade the Wide-range Bar?

• Close near the high: one-sided initiative buying — a breakout validation candidate.
• Close near the low: the bearish mirror — initiative selling, a breakdown validation candidate.
• Mid-range close: unusual intensity without a winner — a two-sided fight, not a directional statement.

Events are evaluated on confirmed bars only; each tag's tooltip reports the range against its baseline and the close's position. An optional dotted level at the latest bar's midpoint serves as a pullback reference, and four alerts cover all the reads.

Wide-range Bar Settings

• Detection Method (default Widest of Last N Bars): how a bar qualifies; the alternative is Multiple of Average Range / ATR.
• Widest of Last (N) Bars (default 7): window for the widest-of test.
• Range Multiple (default 1.5) and Baseline (default Average Range): threshold multiple and the trailing series it multiplies; the ATR option also counts gaps.
• Baseline Length (default 14): bars in the trailing baseline.
• Extreme Close Zone (%) (default 33): span portion from each extreme counting as a one-sided close.
• Require Volume Expansion (default off) with Volume Average Length (default 20): only flag bars whose volume beats its trailing average.
• Style toggles: Show WRB Labels and Color Wide-range Bars (on by default), Midpoint of Latest WRB (off by default).

Frequently Asked Questions

How is a wide-range bar different from a Marubozu?

A Marubozu is defined by shape — a body with little to no wick — regardless of size, while a WRB is defined by span relative to context regardless of shape. A bar can be both — the strongest read of the two.

Which detection method should I use?

Widest of Last N Bars is rank-based and self-calibrating, mirroring the narrow-range NR7 convention in reverse. Multiple of Average Range / ATR demands a specific degree of expansion instead, and both float with the instrument's volatility.

Does the volume filter block signals where no volume exists?

No — when a symbol reports no volume data the filter is bypassed rather than suppressing events. Where volume exists, a wide bar arriving on above-average volume shows genuine initiative — exactly what the filter isolates.