Lower Wick Pressure (LWP)

The Lower Wick Pressure (LWP) indicator measures the strength of lower-wick activity during uptrends.

Concept

When price is in an uptrend (close above a rising EMA), frequent or long lower wicks often suggest buying pressure: sellers push price down intrabar, but buyers step in and reclaim ground before the bar closes.

This indicator isolates those signals by tracking the lower wick size relative to the total bar range (or absolute size if normalization is disabled).

By applying a moving average to these values, it highlights whether buyer absorption at intrabar lows is persistent or fading.

How it works

Trend filter

Uses an EMA to define trend direction.

Only bars where price is above a rising EMA are considered.

Optionally skips the first N minutes after the daily session opens.

Lower wick calculation

The distance between the bar’s low and its body (min(open, close) – low).

Normalized by bar range (high – low) if desired.

Smoothing

The lower-wick values from qualifying bars are averaged with a simple moving average.

This smooth line shows the rolling intensity of buying pressure at the intrabar lows.

Plots

Blue columns → Raw lower-wick ratios (only during uptrends).

Yellow line → Smoothed average of wick pressure.

Gray dashed line at 0.5 → Reference level (50% of bar range).

Use cases

Gauge whether buyers are consistently defending dips during an uptrend.

Spot weakening pressure when average wick ratios fall.

Support for momentum or trend-continuation setups.