Explosive exponential detector
Adds five cues for a fast move, mostly up; at defaults it marks about a third of bars.
Each one-minute bar earns points for five cues: a positive acceleration of the log return well above its recent average, a rise across all three look-back windows, volume against its recent average, the 10-bar average range jumping 20% in one bar, and a bar narrower than its recent average. The points add to 0 to 14, and the indicator reports the score only at 5 or more. Despite the name, it does not measure exponential growth; it counts how many cues line up.
How to read it
- No line is drawn; markers sit on candles where the points reach 5 or more, with a score from 5 (weak) to 14 (all cues).
- At defaults the markers are dense: about a third of bars, roughly 236 starts a day on SPY, and runs average about 1.3 bars. Read a cluster as one episode.
- A higher score means more cues agreed on that bar. It says nothing about how far price will move next.
What it outputs
- Explosive score
- Sum of five cues on one bar, from 5 to 14. Drawn only on bars where the sum reaches 5 or more.
When it fires
When the five cues sum to 5 or more on one bar, out of 14 possible. Acceleration alone is enough, and so is a mix of weaker cues, such as a narrow bar with an expanding range plus a small momentum point. Read it as cues agreeing, not as a confirmed breakout.
Settings
- window_fast
- Bars in the short rise check behind the momentum points. Lowering it to 1 tracks only the last bar, so top momentum points come more easily. Above window_mid the indicator never fires, because it keeps only window_mid acceleration readings.
- window_mid
- Bars behind the mid rise check and the recent averages for acceleration, volume and range. Raising it smooths those averages, so spikes must be bigger to score. Above window_slow the mid and slow rise checks become identical.
- window_slow
- Bars in the long rise check, the last of the three momentum windows. Raising it looks further back, so the all-up test covers a longer run. It also sets how many returns are needed before the first score.
- acceleration_threshold
- How far above its recent average the bar's acceleration must be, and positive, to score 4 points. Raising it makes that cue rarer, so more firings rest on other cues. Below 1 the test is weak; negative values flip its meaning.
Pitfalls
- Too frequent to act as a breakout alarm: on SPY at defaults it was on for about a third of bars, roughly 236 starts a day.
- Silent when window_fast is above window_mid: the acceleration history keeps only window_mid readings, so the indicator never reaches its output. The settings still allow it.
- Volume and range are compared with averages that include the current bar, so spikes read small. True range compares with the current close, so gaps between bars are ignored.