Explosive momentum detector
How explosive the last few bars' move is, from 0 to 5. It does not say up or down.
Scores how explosive the recent move is, from 0 to 5, using percent changes over three windows (default 3, 7 and 12 one-minute bars). It scores above 0 only when all three windows point the same way. Scores of 2 and up also need volume above its recent average and a short-window return that is rising or flat, and they climb with the size of the short move. The score carries no direction, so a sharp fall and a sharp rally can score the same.
How to read it
- The line sits in its own pane below the price, in whole steps from 0 to 5.
- On SPY most bars read 0, so the line is nearly flat with occasional blips.
- A 1 means all three windows agree on direction and the short move is more than 0.15%.
- A 2 needs a move over 0.3%, volume above its recent average, and a short-window return rising or flat.
- 3 to 5 need 0.5% to 1.0% moves on heavy volume; the sample month never reached them at defaults.
What it outputs
- Momentum strength
- Whole-number score from 0 (no explosive move) to 5 (extreme). Unsigned, so falls and rallies score alike.
Settings
- window_short
- Span of the main move, default 3 bars. It must clear fixed size cut-offs (0.15% to 1.0%). A longer span measures a bigger move, so it clears them more easily; a shorter one needs a sharper burst. Also sets the acceleration check.
- window_mid
- Span for the same-direction test and the volume baseline, default 7 bars. Raising it averages volume over more bars, so the volume test compares against a slower baseline. Its return must also share the sign of the other two.
- window_long
- Span of the slowest direction check, default 12 bars. Only its sign counts, not its size, so raising it asks a slower trend to agree. Lowering it makes the check react to the last few bars sooner.
Pitfalls
- No direction: a 5 on a sharp sell-off looks identical to a 5 on a rally. Read the candles beside it.
- The acceleration check is not direction-aware. A falling move reaches 2 or higher only when its decline is slowing, and tiers 4 and 5 need the short return turning up, so downside scores look inverted and may be a bug.
- Size cut-offs and volume multiples are hard-coded for large single-stock moves. On SPY one-minute bars the score was 0 on at least 95% of bars in the sample month and never passed 2, so tiers 3 to 5 are rare on SPY.