ATR (Average True Range)¶
What it shows: how much price usually moves per candle (volatility), in price units. It does not show direction.
How people use it: mostly to judge risk: when ATR rises, moves are getting bigger, so stops may need more room. "ATR rising" can confirm a breakout; "ATR falling" a calm market.
Pairs well with: a breakout or trend signal (ATR tells you if the move has energy) and channel indicators such as Keltner Channels or Supertrend, which are built on it.
Settings¶
| Setting | Default | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Length | 14 | How many candles are smoothed. Shorter reacts to new volatility faster. |
| Lookback (bars) | 5 | How many candles back "rising" and "falling" compare with. Larger looks at a longer change. |
You set the defaults on the Indicators page. A condition can use its own settings, which override the defaults for that condition only.
Ready-made conditions¶
| For | Condition | Fires when |
|---|---|---|
| Buy or sell | ATR rising (vs 5 bars ago) | every candle ATR is higher than 5 candles before |
| Buy or sell | ATR falling (vs 5 bars ago) | every candle ATR is lower than 5 candles before |
"Above", "below", "is" and "rising" / "falling" stay true on every candle the state lasts, so they can fire many candles in a row.
Warnings you may see¶
- "Length must be between 1 and 1000" / "Length must be a whole number": shown in the condition editor when a condition's own value is out of range. Fix the number; the condition can't be saved until then.
Where they show: on the Strategies page, open Create entry conditions / Edit entry conditions (or the exit ones). Each condition's messages appear right under it. The setting messages ("must be between", "whole number", "must be one of", "must be smaller than") start with the indicator's short name, for example "MACD: Fast must be between 1 and 1000", and keep the conditions from being saved until fixed. The other warnings never block saving and are repeated in the strategy's Entry or Exit section, starting with the condition's name.
Good to know¶
- It is worked out from each candle's high, low and close (not volume).
- ATR is bigger on longer timeframes and differs by coin; compare it with itself, not with fixed numbers.
- It needs some history before its value settles: 6 × the length + 1 candles (85 at length 14). Apathia loads that history for you.
- ATR shows no direction, so the same conditions are offered for buys and sells.