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2010issue C0916-21

Constructing swing charts from clear bar ranges

A swing-chart marks short-term direction from bar-range envelopes rather than from a calculated smoother. The current leg stays in force through any overlap and changes only when a later bar sits entirely clear of the active extreme.

  • The construction marks current short-term swing direction and the bar on which that direction changes, using high-low bar ranges rather than a lagged smoother.
  • Two bar ranges that share any prices are overlap and are treated as no meaningful change; two bar ranges that share no prices are a clear and are treated as a likely change.
  • A down swing tracks the lowest high until a later low sits entirely above it; an up swing tracks the highest low until a later high sits entirely below it.
  • The first swing direction may be assumed either way, and the first clear then sets the working swing.
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Current trackSwing chart34 readings

How a swing-chart is constructed

A swing-chart is a sequence of short-term directional legs whose turning points are marked when a later bar-range sits entirely clear of the active extreme. The construction marks the current short-term swing direction and the bar on which that direction changes, without a calculated, lagged smoother.

The rule is built from the high-low length of each bar and does not use the open or the close. Direction is left unchanged until a later bar is entirely above or entirely below the reference range.

Why the bar range is the working measure

Each bar is treated as a compressed histogram of that period's trades, so the bar range is the working measure of value.

Bars that look alike in open and close placement can still have different internal distributions, which is why the construction uses range relationship rather than bar appearance. The same range-clear construction is intended to apply on any chart timeframe, even when examples are drawn as daily bars.

Overlap versus a clear

Two bar ranges that share any prices are treated as no meaningful change. Two bar ranges that share no prices are treated as a likely change.

A clear is a later bar-range that shares no prices with the reference range and is treated as a change in short-term direction. An upward clear is the first bar whose low sits above the reference high. A downward clear is the first bar whose high sits below the reference low.

Tracking the active extreme

While the swing is down, the chart tracks the lowest high and starts a new up swing when a later low sits above that lowest high. While the swing is up, it tracks the highest low and starts a new down swing when a later high sits below that highest low.

The first swing direction may be assumed either way. The first clear then sets the working swing.

Educational research material, not investment advice. Historical source context does not establish present-day performance.
22 of 30 in the Swing chart track
201098-100 pp.Next on Swing chartBuilding price force maps from two-bar swingsA two-bar swing starts only after two consecutive bars print higher highs or lower lows and ends only when the opposite two-bar condition appears.
All readings on this track · 30 readings
  1. 1982Constructing range resistance from harmonic swing divisions
  2. 1984Gold swing chart: failed highs, wash-out, and a boxed pivot range
  3. 1988Remaining life on a percent-filtered swing chart
  4. 1991Ranking turning points with percentage swing filters
  5. 1991Five-count swing-chart construction and break rules
  6. 1992Constructing the Gann quarterly swing from the prior quarter's intraday range
  7. 1992Audit quarterly swing breakouts with a slower average cross
  8. 1992Weekly swing invalidation and the trailing stop
  9. 1992Quarterly swing chart construction and trend duration
  10. 1998A two-bar swing is unfinished until it names the stop
  11. 1999Multiple time-frame swing-channel trade setups
  12. 1999Separate two-bar swing direction from peak-valley trend
  13. 2000Constructing peak-trough swing reversals
  14. 2002Swing charts as shared grammar for trading mentorship
  15. 2002Confirming the last leg of a zigzag trend filter
  16. 2004When a late trend bends: test the pause before sizing a reversal
  17. 2006Crude oil swing counts and cycle clusters
  18. 2006When late rallies flatten: a swing-chart classroom
  19. 2006Relocating trading certainty to the decision process
  20. 2008Swing highs, bar-count pace, and the cost-price stop
  21. 2010Constructing suspect versus confirmed swing trends
  22. 2010Constructing swing charts from clear bar ranges
  23. 2010Building price force maps from two-bar swings
  24. 2010Clear-method swing-chart construction
  25. 2011Treat a squared-chart swing forecast as a same-day hypothesis
  26. 2012Cycle mode construction from aligned bandpass swing waves
  27. 2013Stacked swing lows and breakout retrace tests
  28. 2015Building swing charts from perceptually important points
  29. 2015Construct a zztop from perceptually important points
  30. 2016Isolating swings with percentage trend thresholds
By fieldTrend and channels181 readingsBy year201075 readings
All 34 readings tagged Swing chart
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1982Constructing range resistance from harmonic swing divisions1982Swing charts, stop-loss orders, and good-till-cancelled covers in a bond-market coil1984Gold swing chart: failed highs, wash-out, and a boxed pivot range1988Remaining life on a percent-filtered swing chart1991Five-count swing-chart construction and break rules