Acceleration detector
Shows when each one-minute return comes in higher than the one before, scaled by recent move size.
It takes each bar's percent change in close and subtracts the previous bar's change, giving how much the move changed from one bar to the next. That difference is divided by the average size of the last ten one-minute moves, so 1 means the change equals a typical move. Only positive results are drawn, and the line is blank when the change is zero or negative or before enough bars have built up. The name suggests an exponential fit, but the code computes no such fit.
How to read it
- The line sits in its own pane below the price. It is blank about half the time, and for the first 21 bars at default settings. Blank means no reading, not zero.
- Above 1, the latest return beat the one before by more than a typical move. Above 3.9 is the top 5 percent of readings on the SPY sample.
- A high reading means the return is turning up relative to the prior bar. A decline that slows also reads high, so check the price direction first.
What it outputs
- Acceleration
- Change in the one-minute return from the bar before, divided by the average size of the last 10 one-minute moves. Positive values only; blank otherwise.
Settings
- window
- Sets only the warm-up: the first reading needs this many bars plus one. From 11 up, the readings do not change and only the start moves. Below 4 it never draws. From 4 to 10 it divides by a fixed 0.01 instead of recent move size.
Pitfalls
- Direction is not in the sign. A fall that slows (returns less negative) reads positive just like a rally that speeds up, so it fires in downtrends and rebounds too.
- The window does not smooth or lengthen the look-back from 11 up. Below 4 the indicator never shows anything, even though the catalog allows values from 1.
- Single spikes are weak evidence on their own. The SPY sample does not test whether they predict price.