GUIDE · INDICATORS

Alpha Bands

Alpha Bands is the trend layer of the suite. It tracks which side of the market is in control and holds that read until price proves otherwise, then carries the trade from the entry to the exit: the flip, the continuations, three targets and a trailing stop, all on one chart.

QQQ · 1D · Alpha Bands
Trend · BULL · 9 bars
Alpha Bands on QQQ, daily: the green band under price through the rally, the red band over it in the pullbacks, ▲ and ▼ flip badges, continuation triangles, exhaustion marks, the T1 to T3 targets floating ahead and the market state panel
QQQ, daily, on TradingView. The band hangs under price through the spring rally and sits over it in the two pullbacks. Every flip is a badge, the pullbacks that held are triangles, the stretched bars carry a ✻, and the targets float ahead of the last bar. The panel calls the current tape choppy.

Key features

One band, one side.
Green under price in up-moves, red over price in down-moves. It pinches thin when the trend stalls and swells as the move extends, so the state of the trend is readable at a glance.
Flips lock on close.
A flip needs consecutive closes through the gate, two by default. Once the bar prints the flip stays printed: no repainting, no revisions.
Targets and a stop on every trend.
Three targets project from the entry close the moment a signal prints, and a trailing stop follows the move and only ever tightens.
One alert, every event.
Flips, continuations, targets reached, stop hits and exhaustion warnings all stream through a single alert, each message naming its event.

How the trend flips

The script builds a trend baseline from recent price action and draws a flip gate around it. The gate is a few tenths of a standard deviation wide, but never thinner than half an average range, so it stays wide in quiet, sideways markets, where most trend tools whipsaw. The trend only changes side when price closes through that gate on consecutive bars. A wick through it, or a single close, changes nothing.

The gate itself is hidden by default. What you see is the band, which hangs off the trailing stop: its bright edge is the price side, and it thickens as the stop lags a fast move. Turn on the flip zone in the settings to see where the regime actually flips.

The close is the verdict. Nothing inside the bar counts, and nothing printed is ever taken back.

Marks on the chart

Flip up
The trend flipped bullish on this bar's close. The band turns green and moves under price.
Read: The primary signal. ▲+ means the flip came on elevated volume, the stronger version. Three targets print from this close.
Flip down
The trend flipped bearish on this bar's close. The band turns red and moves over price.
Read: The primary signal the other way. ▼+ is the elevated-volume version.
Continuation triangle
Price pulled back into the trend, tagged the baseline, and the first close back through the gate came on a with-trend bar.
Read: A second way in. It marks a pullback that held and re-arms the trailing stop after an exit. None prints within three bars of a flip or eight of another.
Exit
Price closed through the trailing stop.
Read: The trade is over. The trend itself has not flipped; the next continuation triangle re-arms the stop.
Exhaustion mark
A bar opened past a hidden volatility band in the trend's direction and closed back inside, or reversed hard while outside it.
Read: A warning that the move is stretched, not a reversal call. Amber over stretched tops, green under stretched bottoms.
Target hit
Price reached one of the three targets.
Read: The floating target turns green with a ✔, and a small ✔ stays at the bar it was hit on.

Targets and the trailing stop

The moment a flip prints, the script measures the prior swing, from the last leg's extreme to the entry close, and projects it in the direction of the trade at 0.618, 1.0 and 1.618. Those are T1, T2 and T3. They are fixed at entry and float ahead of the last bar in amber until hit. The panel's Next target row shows the first one not yet reached.

The trailing stop is a chandelier: the highest high since the flip minus a multiple of the average range, mirrored for down-trends. It only tightens. A close through it prints the ✕ and ends the trade; the trend stays as it was until a flip says otherwise.

The market state panel

The corner table reads TRENDING or CHOPPY, then the trend and its age in bars, the next target, volume and volatility. Choppy means price has crossed the trend's centre too often in the recent window, the conditions where flips whipsaw. Volume is graded against the symbol's own recent average, volatility against its own year. The panel is informational: it never filters or hides a signal.

Settings

Defaults are tuned for daily trading on equities. Inputs are named by effect.

SettingDefaultWhat it changes
Trend length33The lookback for the trend baseline.
Flip resistance0.25How much it takes for the trend to change side. Higher means fewer flips.
Smoothing4Smoothing applied to the baseline. 1 turns it off.
Confirmation bars2Consecutive closes needed to confirm a flip. Higher means fewer, later flips.
Noise filter0.5The gate's minimum width in quiet markets, in average ranges. 0 turns it off.
Trail distance2.0How much room the trailing stop gives the move, in average ranges. Higher means later exits.
Strong signal volume threshold1.0How heavy volume must be for a ▲+ or ▼+, in standard deviations. Higher means rarer.
Market noise lookback / threshold30 / 4The window and crossing count behind the CHOPPY verdict. A lower threshold flags chop earlier.
OverlaysAll offFast and slow trend lines, a macro cloud and exhaustion zones. Context layers, off by default; their alerts run either way.

How to use it

Read it in the order it prints. A ▲ or ▼ is the primary signal, and the + version the higher-conviction one. Triangles are the pullbacks that held, a way to join a trend you missed or add to one you are in. T1, T2 and T3 are the scale-out levels from the entry. The ✕ is the end of the trade: wait for the next flip or continuation. What you do with any of it is your decision, in your own account.

Pair it with Alpha Oscillator. The Oscillator leads, the Bands confirm. When both flip the same way, that is the dual flip, and the Oscillator marks it.

Alerts

Create one alert on Alpha Bands and pick "Any alert() function call". Every event arrives with the ticker, the timeframe and its name in the message: BUY and SELL flips, continuation BUY and SELL, T1 to T3 reached, EXIT long and short, exhaustion warnings, and the overlay flips. The full walkthrough is in the Alerts guide.