What it does
True Range measures the full extent of a single bar's price movement, including any gap from the prior close. It is the greatest of three values: the current high minus the current low, the absolute distance from the previous close to the current high, and the absolute distance from the previous close to the current low. This gap-aware range is the building block of ATR and most volatility-based stops.
How to add it
Click Indicators (ƒx) in the header.
Search “True Range” and click the result.
Hover its legend row and click the gear to open settings.
How traders use it
- A True Range bar far above recent norms flags a volatility event, such as news, a breakout, or capitulation, deserving attention.
- Use recent True Range values to sanity-check stop placement: a stop closer than one typical bar's range will likely be hit by noise.
- Compare a breakout bar's True Range to preceding bars: genuine breakouts usually print expanded range, while breakouts on tiny range are suspect.
- For smoothed decision-making, use its average (ATR) rather than the raw value, which jumps bar to bar.
Inputs
This indicator has no configurable inputs — it works out of the box.
Plots & styling
| Plot | Style | Default color |
|---|---|---|
| True Range | line | #ff5722 |
Every plot's color, line width and visibility can be changed on the Style tab. Precision (default 2 decimals), price-scale labels and status-line values are configurable at the bottom of the Style tab.
Tips
- Use Add to favorites in the legend menu; starred studies surface at the top of the picker.
- Reference levels (where the study has them) are editable — tune them to the instrument you're trading.
- Hide the study from the legend eye instead of removing it when you only want it out of the way temporarily.
Watch out for
- Raw True Range is a single-bar reading and extremely noisy, so most applications need it averaged over a window.
- It says nothing about direction; a huge True Range bar can be a reversal, a continuation, or a fakeout.