Bar Swings, SMA Swings

 
Bar Swings

Look at two bars which are next to each other. We'll call them Bar #1 and Bar #2.

It's a "Bar Swing Up" when the High of Bar #2 is higher than the High of Bar #1.

It's a "Bar Swing Down" when the Low of Bar #2 is lower than the Low of Bar #1.

Should both conditions be met, that is there is an "outside bar", it's:

• a Bar Swing Up when the Close of Bar #2 is in the upper half of the candle; and
• a Bar Swing Down when the Close of Bar #2 is in the lower half of the candle.

If none of those conditions are met, it's neither a Bar Swing Up nor Down.

A Swing Up is always followed by a Swing Down, and vice versa. There is never a Swing Up followed by another Swing Up.

When a Bar Swing Up occurs, you can also calculate the "Bar Swing Low". That's the lowest price between this Bar Swing Up and the Bar Swing Down immediately before it.

When a Bar Swing Down occurs, you can also calculate the "Bar Swing High". That's the highest price between this Bar Swing Down and the Bar Swing Up immediately before it.
 

SMA Swings

A Bar Swing but where the price also closes above/below the simple moving average (SMA). Perhaps a strong signal as Bar Swings can happen every few bars, whereas SMA Swings happen far less often.

The truth is that this can be applied to any overlay - not just the simple moving average. The "SMA Swings" custom indicator is provided as an example. If you wanted to use a different overlay, like the Upper Bollinger Line, or a Fibonacci Level, then copy this custom indicator and just change the calculation of Column #1.