Exploding momentum
Flags bars where volume jumps well above its recent average while price has moved, in either direction.
ExplodingMomentum flags a bar only when two checks pass on it together. The price check asks whether the close has moved from the close window - 1 bars earlier; its 'acceleration' ratio always equals window - 1 whenever price moved, so it does not measure speed. The volume check asks whether the current volume, minus the volume from that same older bar, exceeds 1.5 times the average volume over the window. The output is 1 on bars where both checks pass and 0 otherwise, and nothing is reported until the window has filled.
How to read it
- Markers sit on the candles where both checks pass. The indicator draws no line.
- A marker means volume surged against its recent average while price was not flat over the look-back. It marks activity, not a forecast.
- At default settings it fires about 80 separate times a day on SPY one-minute bars, so a single marker says little and a run of them marks a sustained burst of volume.
What it outputs
- Exploding momentum
- 1 on bars where both the price check and the volume check pass, 0 on other bars once the window has filled. Drawn as markers on the candles where it fires.
When it fires
When the close has changed over the look-back and this bar's volume exceeds the volume from window - 1 bars earlier by more than 1.5 times the window's average volume. It marks a volume burst alongside a price move, in either direction, not a confirmed breakout.
Settings
- window
- Look-back in bars, current bar included. Raising it compares against an older close and a smoother volume average, and delays the first output. Lowering it reacts sooner, but below 4 the price check never passes, and at 1 the Python code divides by zero.
Pitfalls
- The name overstates it: the acceleration ratio is always window - 1 when price moved, so any move passes, up or down, with no size or speed test.
- The volume check subtracts one older bar, so a quiet old bar makes an ordinary bar look like a jump and a heavy old bar hides a real surge.
- Windows of 2 or 3 give a ratio of 1 or 2, which cannot clear the price check, and window 1 makes the Python version divide by zero.