Bollinger Bars

The Bollinger Bars indicator is a tool developed by John Bollinger, the creator of Bollinger Bands. This indicator provides an alternative visual for candlestick charts by maintaining a fixed width for a candle and using different colors to differentiate the candle's body and wicks. Traders may use this indicator to identify candlestick chart patterns and insights such as accumulation/distribution trends, periods of compression, and large range days.

Typically, candlestick charts draw a wide candle body to highlight the range between a bar's open and close prices, using thinner tails (or wicks) to display the bar's remaining price action as it extends from its high to low prices. The color of the candle's body is green when the close price is above the open price, or red when the close price is below the open price.

The Bollinger Bars indicator sets the color of the candle's body similar to the traditional candlestick chart to display a green or red candle respectively. However, it uses the same width to draw all the candle components, therefore a candle's wicks appear as wide blue blocks above and below the candle's body. Presenting the bars this way can help visually emphasize the full price range traded within a given bar.

Traders may choose to pair this indicator with other Bollinger tools like the standard Bollinger Bands or Percent Bandwidth (%b).