hi isabella
ATR IS powerful indicator but needs to be seen in a separate chart.
Trading is to done when prices change more and more between Low and HIGH or HIGH AND LOW THE GAP WIDENING,more ATR,more the supply-demand gap widening.
ATR(50) in simple terms,plots (high-low) of past 50 bars and adds it then divides by 50-to get you average range over past 50 bars.
If you pick stock or index that has ATR(50) at 1 or 2 units,
it means the instrument doesn,t really move and Nobody is interested in it-Nobody wants to buy or sell.
Instead, if you found an instrument-a stock THAT HAS ATR(50)=5 OR 10, it means there is volatility-OR MOVEMENT in the instrument and you can trade it.
THUMB RULE1 DONT TRADE INSTRUMENTS WIH LOW ATR VALUES.
THUMB RULE2 YOU CAN TAKE A PROFIT OF HALF OF ATR(50).
Look for ATR AVERAGE TRUE RANGE
under indicators
or just paste this code
in formula space
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//GET ATR50 PLOTTED IN A CHART
Plot(ATR(50),"ATR(50)",colorRed,styleThick);//USE ON A SEPARATE CHART
===================================================
USE THE CODE BELOW FOR ATR BASED ENTRIES
BUY AFTER BLUE CANDLE APPEARS & CROSSES PREVIOUS CANDLE CLOSE AND EXIT BLUE CANDLE CLOSE BELOW PREVIOUS TWO BARSLOW,OR ON COLOR CHANGE OR ON STOPLOSS GETTING HIT.
//======================
//SIMPLE ENTRY AND STOPLOSS
LongTrailStop = HHV( C - 2 * ATR(10), 15 );
Plot( LongTrailStop, "Long Trailing stop", colorBrown, styleThick | styleLine );
EntrySignal = C > ( LLV( L, 20 ) + 2 * ATR( 10 ) );
ExitSignal = C < ( HHV( H, 20 ) - 2 * ATR( 10 ) );
Color = IIf( EntrySignal, colorBlue, IIf( ExitSignal, colorOrange, colorGrey50 ));
Plot(C,"CLOSE",COLOR,styleCandle);
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PS
IF CANDLES ARE not SHOWING BLUE AND ORANGE COLORS,
GO TO Preferences-charting-candlesticks-choose option saying " use distinct color for body outline online only".then click apply-ok