[TA] Range Regime

# Range Regime – Candle Range Monitor (RR)

## Short Description

Tracks current candle range vs historical average, flags range spikes, and labels volatility regime (LOW / NORMAL / HIGH) at a glance.

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## What It Does

Range Regime (RR) is a volatility/range monitoring indicator designed to help you quickly understand whether the market is *quiet, normal, or expanding* on the current timeframe.

It calculates:

* Current Range

* Either Candle Range (High–Low) *or* True Range (TR)
* Average Range over a lookback window (optionally smoothed)
* Max / Min / Mid range levels over the same lookback
* Spike detection

* Marks candles where current range is ≥ (Spike Threshold × Average)
* Regime state

* Compares the current range vs a longer Baseline Average
* Labels LOW / NORMAL / HIGH volatility regime in a small table

It also shows a compact stats table with points and ticks (based on `syminfo.mintick`) so you can think in the units you actually trade.

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## Why It’s Helpful

This tool is useful because range expansion and compression often determine:

* Whether a setup is worth taking right now
* Whether your stops/targets are realistic for the session
* Whether you should size down (high regime) or avoid forcing trades (low regime)
* When the market is shifting from chop → impulse (spikes) or impulse → stall (compression)

In practice, RR helps you answer:

* “Is volatility expanding or contracting?”
* “Is this move unusually large relative to recent history?”
* “Are we in a high-vol environment where risk needs to change?”

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## How To Use It

1. Add to chart (it plots in its own pane).
2. Choose your Range Mode:

* Candle (H–L): pure bar range (great for clean range monitoring)
* True Range (TR): includes gaps (better for overnight / news / gap-prone markets)
3. Set Lookback (N):

* Typical: 20–100
* Smaller = more reactive, larger = more stable
4. Optionally enable Smooth the Average:

* Helps reduce noise and false “spike” triggers
5. Adjust Spike Threshold (× Avg):

* Common values:

* 1.3–1.6 = more frequent spike flags
* 1.8–2.5 = only “real” expansions get flagged
6. Set Baseline Length (Regime):

* Typical: 150–300
* This is your “background volatility context”

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## How To Read The Plots

* Current Range (columns): what the market just “spent” in range.
* Avg: normal range for this timeframe.
* Max / Min: extremes over the lookback window.
* Mid: midpoint between Max and Min (quick “center” reference).
* Spike Line (× Avg): the threshold for a “spike.”
* Background highlight: appears when the current candle qualifies as a spike.
* Regime table (top-left):

* HIGH when current range > 1.25× baseline average
* LOW when current range < 0.75× baseline average
* Otherwise NORMAL

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## Practical Trading Uses (Examples)

* Risk calibration: If regime is HIGH, consider wider stops / smaller size.
* Trade selection: Avoid mean-reversion scalps when spikes are frequent (momentum environment).
* Session context: Spot when market transitions from tight range (LOW) into expansion (spike + HIGH).
* Instrument comparison: Great for comparing how “active” ES vs NQ vs CL is *on the same timeframe*.

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## Suggested Defaults

* Lookback (N): 50
* Range Mode: True Range (TR) for gap-prone markets; Candle (H–L) for cleaner intraday bars
* Smoothing: On, length 10
* Spike Threshold: 1.5×
* Baseline Length: 200

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## Notes / Limitations

* This is not a buy/sell signal. It’s a volatility/range context tool.
* Results depend on timeframe. A spike on 1m means something very different than a spike on 1h.
* “Ticks” display uses the symbol’s `mintick` and will be most meaningful on instruments with standardized tick sizes (futures, many FX pairs, etc.).

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## Invite-Only / Access Copy

This script is published as “Invite-Only.”
If you’ve been granted access, it will appear under Indicators → Invite-only scripts on TradingView.
If you don’t see it, you likely haven’t been added yet—request access from the publisher.

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