ATR

Indicators

• Price
• High
• Low

ATR

14 candles

• ATR
• ATR %

This is how the node looks on the board: inputs on the left, outputs on the right.

Measures how much the price swings. Measures how far the price moves per candle on average, from low to high, including jumps since the previous candle’s close. The bigger the number, the more restless the market. The ATR % output relates it to the price, which lets you compare coins with very different prices. Example: with BTC around $82,000 the ATR 14 on 1-hour candles is often around $400, about 0.5 %. “ATR % 14 above 0.7” fires when the market gets clearly more restless than usual.

What it looks like

• Price (close of each candle)
• ATR 14

Top: the BTC/USDT price; bottom: the ATR 14 of the same 1-hour candles in dollars. When the candles get bigger it rises, in calm phases it falls again. Divided by the price it gives the ATR % output.

Settings

The settings appear on the right under “Properties” once you click the node on the board. Below each field you find the same explanation as here.

Candles

Default: 14 · from 1 to 500, whole number

How many candles the ranges are averaged over. 14 is the usual value. Fewer candles react faster to sudden turbulence, more candles show the swings over a longer time.

Smoothing

Default: RMA · usual · under “More”

How the ranges are averaged. RMA is the usual way to calculate the ATR; you only need the others to match values from another tool.

• RMA · usual (default): Wilder’s smoothing, the one he introduced the ATR with. Calm: with 14 candles each new candle counts for one fourteenth.
• SMA · every candle counts equally: Simple average: each of the last candles counts the same. When a big candle drops out of the window, the value jumps.
• EMA · recent candles count more: Exponential average: recent candles count more than with RMA. Reacts faster when the market suddenly gets restless.
• WMA · weight drops evenly: Weighted average: the newest candle counts most, each older one evenly less.

Example

Notifies you when the usual range of the last 14 candles rises above 0.7 % of the price. For BTC it is usually around 0.5 %, so the market is getting clearly more restless.

How to connect the nodes:

1. Candle (Price) → ATR (Price)
2. Candle (High) → ATR (High)
3. Candle (Low) → ATR (Low)
4. ATR (ATR %) → Compare (Value)
5. Compare (true/false) → Telegram (Trigger)

On the board it reads: 14 candles

Chain as JSON

To try it, copy it and paste it in the editor under “Import”. Importing creates a new chain.

atr.json

{
  "name": "Example: ATR",
  "version": 1,
  "nodes": [
    { "id": "c1", "type": "core.candle", "position": { "x": 40, "y": 40 }, "settings": { "pair": "BTC/USDT", "timeframe": "1h" } },
    { "id": "a1", "type": "core.atr", "position": { "x": 260, "y": 40 }, "settings": { "length": 14 } },
    { "id": "k1", "type": "core.compare", "position": { "x": 480, "y": 40 }, "settings": { "operator": "above", "value": 0.7 } },
    { "id": "t1", "type": "core.telegram", "position": { "x": 700, "y": 40 }, "settings": {} }
  ],
  "edges": [
    { "from": "c1.close", "to": "a1.close" },
    { "from": "c1.high", "to": "a1.high" },
    { "from": "c1.low", "to": "a1.low" },
    { "from": "a1.percent", "to": "k1.in" },
    { "from": "k1.out", "to": "t1.in" }
  ]
}

Inputs and outputs

Only matching types connect: number series to number series (round pin), signal to signal (square), message to message (diamond).

Direction	Pin	Type	Note
Input	Price	Number series	required
Input	High	Number series	required
Input	Low	Number series	required
Output	ATR	Number series	appears in messages as a price, e.g. “$81,616”
Output	ATR %	Number series	in percent

Good to know

• In messages the values are called “ATR 14”, “ATR % 14”.
• Warm-up with the default settings: 141 candles (this many extra candles are loaded by the replay before the value is reliable).
• Search also finds it under: volatility, range, true range, stop loss.

Technical details

True range as the largest of high − low, |high − previous close| and |low − previous close|, smoothed with RMA, SMA, EMA or WMA, ATR % as ATR divided by the close times 100; the same values as TradingView’s built-in Average True Range indicator, with RMA the same formula as ta.atr.

• Type in the chain: core.atr · Version 1.0.0 · Category key ind
• Settings in the chain: length (Candles), smoothing (Smoothing)
• Pins in the chain: Input close, high, low · Output out, percent
• Reference tests in the manifest: 2 (with fixed price data: 500 candles of 1h)
• How a node is built