Consolidation Value Zones (Recio)Consolidation Value Zones introduces an original algorithm to identify consolidation ranges and locate areas of importance within them. This new method "looks" at the chart and draws zones based on price with the goal of producing actionable zones which appear natural, as if they were found through a human analysis.
> Consider the following...
The chart image above displays Bitcoin, at no specific date, for no specific reason. What I have done here is simply glanced at the chart for about 5 seconds, and circled a few areas which stood out as "obvious" consolidation. It does not take a savant to look at a chart and circle ranging price. However, what we have just done defies many common systems for identifying consolidation. We have located ranges of various zone lengths, as small as roughly 25 bars to as large as roughly 100 bars. Regardless of this, we still determined these zones with our eyes and brain in a few seconds, for some it's practically instant. The issue with us humans doing this, is that we are subjective. We did not really use any concrete rules to determine these areas with our eyes. So the problem becomes "How do we identify these zones in a way which seems natural to us with a repeatable system?" Because of this, my approach is simply a logical attempt to reverse engineer our human intuition.
> Consolidation Value Zones
The name of this indicator is generic. To dissect it, we are identifying consolidation ranges, then using a volume profile to determine the value zone within that range. The specific method used to identify these consolidation zones is something I've personally been referring to as the "skewer" method. Another name that may fit better is "Linear Range Alignment/Overlap".
Ultimately, the goal is to locate a single price level or range that overlaps many adjacent bars.
This should, in theory, return areas of visually obvious consolidation.
> The Skewer Method (Identification Method & Bar Gap Allowances)
One consistent concept across the different identification methods for determining consolidation is time. How long do we chop around before calling it consolidation? This is the "Identification Threshold". Once we have located a consolidation zone "this" wide, we will then consider it as consolidation.
In the chart image above, we are considering a six-bar consolidation formation. The figure on the left shows an example of a perfect raw bar overlap, we can see that the six bars all overlap at one price range. This is a perfect example of what we are looking to identify as consolidation. Unfortunately, if this was all we looked at, we would have a very scarce identification method.
For that reason, we have the example on the right, which shows the additional allowances for the identification of these ranges. At most, the example on the right shows a gapless three-bar overlap. However, if we allow the identification to bridge across the gaps, we are able to draw a zone directly through the center and still be within our parameters. This allowance is the "Bar Gap Allowance" and will determine the leniency of the identification.
Between our identification threshold and bar gap allowance, we can start to piece together how the script is "looking" at our chart.
> Detecting Consolidation (Live Detection)
To aid in transparency and user understanding, the live detection calculation can be seen on the chart as a box, skewering the recent historical bars with a number next to it, indicating the number of bars found as potential consolidation.
As we can see in the chart image above, the script, by default, is looking for a 15-bar consolidation, with a 5-bar gap allowance. In the image, the specific gap count is labeled, we can see the script scan backwards as far as it can before counting five gaps in the data. Once that occurs, the detection stops.
Notice how the zone found is a range, consisting of all price levels which meet the parameters. The lower level of the range only had two gaps, but the upper level reached five.
> Consolidation Range and Value Zones (Volume Profiles)
Once the script has identified the consolidation formation, it calculates a volume profile across the identified consolidation range. From this it calculates and draws the Point of Control (POC) and Value Area in addition to the full consolidation range.
Once we have our zones drawn, and understand what they identify, we can go one step further and apply concepts from volume profile trading.
Range High/Low: Displays the current extent of the identified consolidation.
Value High/Low: Shows the specific area within the consolidation where buyers and sellers found the most value.
POC: The single point, where the most volume was transacted during consolidation.
In a balanced market, we would anticipate price to rotate around POC, oscillating from Value High (VAH) to Value Low (VAL). In contrast, a market in motion moves directionally, building volume at new price levels as value, naturally the POC shifts with it.
> Zone Extensions
Unlike many other scripts, there is no mitigation logic at play here, since crossing a zone simply tells us "buyers and sellers are not currently active here", but it does not guarantee that value cannot return or react from previous areas of value.
Obviously the current zone will always be most relevant, but historical zones can retain relevance depending on the context of the market.
Remember: Each area of consolidation is an area where buyers and sellers were once facing off, resulting in price's consolidation. Amidst this, the value zone was the area of greatest agreement between the participants at that time. When moving outside of a range, we would typically look at historical value areas and price's interaction with them for further context.
Due to the ever changing market, there is no fixed extension lookback that will cover every scenario. By default, the Extension Lookback is "1", meaning the script will extend the most recent zone forward until a new zone is detected.
Note: For clarity, zone extensions are colored differently from core zones.
The following chart image shows a few examples of these unique interactions.
As seen in the chart image, looking to previous areas of value as well as POC can provide context in the form of acceptance or rejection at these levels, providing further insight into the auction for us to respond to.
The zones do contain logic to maintain a clean display. By default, the zones extend conditionally when price returns to the previous consolidation range. If desired, the zones can be extended regardless of price action; this can be toggled with the option "Regardless Extension Mode", as seen below.
> Hollow Candles & Zone Merging
When consolidation is identified, a hollow candle is drawn; these can be used to see exactly when each zone is identified. It is important to understand that consolidation zones stemming from the same origin are merged into one zone. This is a frequent occurrence when the consolidation threshold is passed, but the consolidation continues. For this reason you will often see multiple hollow candles in the later areas of the zones.
Similarly, zones from different origin points that overlap are also merged into one consolidation zone. This ensures that no core zones overlap.
Additionally, every time a zone is merged, a new volume profile for the area is calculated.
> Bar Gap Allowance Type (Technical Explanation)
The specific bar gap allowance value can be altered, but so can the type of allowance being used. While some analyses may benefit from counting the total amount of bar gaps within the consolidation, others may benefit from detecting based on consecutive bar gaps.
The chart image above displays the gap counts for each gap allowance type.
The total bar gap allowance type will count until the gap amount is reached, then terminate detection once the allowed number of gaps has been exceeded.
The consecutive bar gap allowance type resets its count once it finds a valid bar within range, by doing so, it only counts the bars that separate each island of in-range bars.
Both methods have merit.
> Implementation
This identification method has proven effective to identify consolidation across market types. As a result, there cannot be one configuration of settings to fit every application. Adapting the detection type and method for each trader's specific market conditions is highly recommended.
When determining parameters, it is helpful to consider time, as it plays a major role in the identification method.
On a 1D chart, the default threshold of 15 corresponds to 15 days, or about 3 weeks depending on the ticker. To identify periods of one-week consolidation, a threshold of 5 would be suitable. To detect perfect gapless weeks, a bar gap allowance of 0 could be used, as seen in the chart image below.
Additional Example:
In the chart image above, we see a 15-second forex chart over the span of a few hours. The detection parameters are set up to detect 15-minute consolidation with a 2-minute max dead zone (consecutive bar gap).
> Detection Source
By default, the script detects consolidation ranges using the full extent of candle wicks. While this is traditional, detection can also be done using only the candle bodies. These identifications are much more nuanced, detecting only from confirmed candle price action; they do not trigger at the same frequency as wick detection.
Optionally, a "Wick/Body Average" can be chosen as the source for detection; as the name implies, this uses the average value between the candle body and its respective wick.
> Additional Settings
The settings mentioned thus far serve as core parameters for identifying consolidation. The following parameters are simply included for the benefit of the advanced user. It is not recommended to adjust these settings under normal circumstances.
- Value Area Percent: Default = 68.26, while traditionally 70 for volume profiles, 68.26 is accurate to the values of a standard bell-curve distribution. The differences are minimal in application.
- VP Rows: Default = 99, Sets the number of rows to be used when calculating the Volume Profiles (VP); note that higher values will lead to a slower calculation. Max value: 999
> Final Notes
If you have made it this far, thank you for reading.
I hope you find value in this new consolidation identification system and understand the logic behind it.
That's it.
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