HalfTrend Breakout [NovaLens]
HalfTrend Breakout is a HalfTrend trend-band overlay that marks where the band turns and where a closed candle breaks a confirmed swing high or low in the band's direction, then grades that breakout candle's recorded volume against the average of its own prior 20 candles. One chart shows the trend side, how long it has held, and which swing break of the trend traded Heavy volume.
The band carries the trend, a small arrow marks the turn, a small diamond marks the Heavy break.
The usual way needs a trend study, a fractal study and a volume pane, joined by eye. This overlay does the join on the candle that matters; by default it draws only the first Heavy break of each trend. An arrow or a diamond is a reading, not a trade call. Heavy describes the volume recorded on that candle, not confidence, and this indicator makes no claim about what price does after a breakout.
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◉ HOW IT WORKS
The band (HalfTrend). Everget's method tracks the highest high, lowest low and their averages over the last Amplitude candles (10 by default). Its internal direction changes when the relevant average passes a tracked swing extreme and the close breaks the prior candle's low or high. A channel sits around that line at Channel Deviation (2.0 by default) times half of a Wilder ATR(100). The trend turns up on a close above the upper channel and down on a close below the lower one; the band you see is the channel edge on the trend's side.
Swing levels (Bill Williams fractals). A swing high is a high strictly above the two highs on each side, so it is known two candles later; a swing low mirrors it. The overlay keeps the latest confirmed swing in the trend's direction; a turn of the band clears it.
The breakout. A closed candle that finishes strictly beyond the pending level, in the band's direction, is one breakout event and uses that level up. It never happens on the candle where the band turns, and never on the open candle.
The grade (RV20). The breakout candle's volume divided by the average volume of the 20 candles before it: Light at 1.0x or less, Middle above 1.0x up to 1.5x, Heavy above 1.5x. When that reading cannot be made, the grade is Unavailable.
What is new against a plain HalfTrend: only swing breaks that agree with the band, each with its relative volume.
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◈ HOW TO READ IT
Marks on the chart:
Hover any mark for its numbers: swing, confirmation and break dates, close, level and the volume multiple to two decimals. With Breakout marks set to All or 1st break, a grey diamond means the candle had no usable volume.
The panel (bottom right) reads the last closed candle. HalfTrend with the big word Uptrend or Downtrend; Trend age, the bars since the band last turned; Last signal, the last shown mark of this trend, for example "Heavy breakout up, 59 bars ago" or "Flip down, 9 bars ago". During warm-up the panel says Warming up with the closes still needed.
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✦ HOW WE USE IT: 150 DAYS OF BTCUSDT
The chart above: BTCUSDT (Coinbase) 8H, 16 May to 12 October 2026, default settings. These were the last 150 closed candles when the window was set, not a stretch picked for what followed the marks.
The window's high was 87,395.67 on 21 September and it closed 12 October at 81,850.00, still above the teal band. At capture the panel read Uptrend, Trend age 88 bars, Last signal Heavy breakout up, 59 bars ago (it reads the last closed candle, so later days show later numbers). What we take is context: trend side, its age and the one break per trend with unusual volume. No target, no stop, no claim that a Heavy break keeps going.
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❖ OTHER APPLICATIONS
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⚙ GETTING STARTED
HalfTrend Breakout ships with three pre-tuned profiles. Pick one and start reading:
A profile changes the band, its turns and the swing breaks it allows; it says nothing about what price does next.
Settings that matter:
Display: Show band, Look (Clean by default, a thin line with a short soft edge; Bold, the same line with a wide glow), Show band fill, Theme (Auto by default; Dark, Light), Show Info Panel, Panel Position (Btm Right by default; Top Right, Top Left, Btm Left, Mid Right) and Panel size (Normal by default; Small, Large). Colours: Up colour, Down colour and Neutral colour. Every input has a hover.
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△ LIMITATIONS
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🔔 ALERTS
All fire on the confirmed bar close (set to Once Per Bar Close); a cross that reverses before the close sends nothing. Breakout messages carry symbol, timeframe, close, level, volume multiple, grade step (1 Light, 2 Middle, 3 Heavy, 0 Unavailable) and bar time; regime messages say the grade is not applicable. Each ends "Confirmed on bar close." Alerts fire for every breakout, whatever Breakout marks shows. Pick one mechanism per event.
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⌁ NOTES
The band carries the trend, a small arrow marks the turn, a small diamond marks the Heavy break.
The usual way needs a trend study, a fractal study and a volume pane, joined by eye. This overlay does the join on the candle that matters; by default it draws only the first Heavy break of each trend. An arrow or a diamond is a reading, not a trade call. Heavy describes the volume recorded on that candle, not confidence, and this indicator makes no claim about what price does after a breakout.
════════════════════════════════════════════
◉ HOW IT WORKS
The band (HalfTrend). Everget's method tracks the highest high, lowest low and their averages over the last Amplitude candles (10 by default). Its internal direction changes when the relevant average passes a tracked swing extreme and the close breaks the prior candle's low or high. A channel sits around that line at Channel Deviation (2.0 by default) times half of a Wilder ATR(100). The trend turns up on a close above the upper channel and down on a close below the lower one; the band you see is the channel edge on the trend's side.
Swing levels (Bill Williams fractals). A swing high is a high strictly above the two highs on each side, so it is known two candles later; a swing low mirrors it. The overlay keeps the latest confirmed swing in the trend's direction; a turn of the band clears it.
The breakout. A closed candle that finishes strictly beyond the pending level, in the band's direction, is one breakout event and uses that level up. It never happens on the candle where the band turns, and never on the open candle.
The grade (RV20). The breakout candle's volume divided by the average volume of the 20 candles before it: Light at 1.0x or less, Middle above 1.0x up to 1.5x, Heavy above 1.5x. When that reading cannot be made, the grade is Unavailable.
What is new against a plain HalfTrend: only swing breaks that agree with the band, each with its relative volume.
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◈ HOW TO READ IT
- Teal band under price: the trend is up; only breaks above swing highs count.
- Magenta band over price: the trend is down; only breaks below swing lows count.
- A one-candle break in the band: the candle where the band turned to the other side.
Marks on the chart:
- Flip arrow (small ▲ under the candle, ▼ above it): the band turned on that close.
- Breakout diamond (smaller ◆, lighter than the arrow): a close past a confirmed swing level with the band. By default only the first Heavy break of each trend is drawn.
- Dashed broken level: runs from the swing candle to its diamond at the broken level and ends there; it never projects forward.
Hover any mark for its numbers: swing, confirmation and break dates, close, level and the volume multiple to two decimals. With Breakout marks set to All or 1st break, a grey diamond means the candle had no usable volume.
The panel (bottom right) reads the last closed candle. HalfTrend with the big word Uptrend or Downtrend; Trend age, the bars since the band last turned; Last signal, the last shown mark of this trend, for example "Heavy breakout up, 59 bars ago" or "Flip down, 9 bars ago". During warm-up the panel says Warming up with the closes still needed.
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✦ HOW WE USE IT: 150 DAYS OF BTCUSDT
The chart above: BTCUSDT (Coinbase) 8H, 16 May to 12 October 2026, default settings. These were the last 150 closed candles when the window was set, not a stretch picked for what followed the marks.
- 22 May: ▼ flip. A close at 75,539.50 crosses below the lower band at 76,005.37; the band turns magenta. The up trend before it had lasted 42 bars.
- 28 May: ◆ Heavy break down. The swing low of 23 May (confirmed 25 May) at 74,289.60 breaks on a close of 73,617.51, with volume at 1.62x its prior 20-bar average.
- 29 May to 20 July. No close got back above 74,289.60 (highest close 73,884.38). The diamond recorded the 28 May close, not the weeks after.
- 21 July: ▲ flip. A close at 66,556.16 crosses above the upper band at 65,691.71; the band turns teal after a down trend of 60 bars.
- 19 August: ◆ Heavy break up. The swing high of 9 August (confirmed 11 August) at 65,474.46 breaks on a close of 69,334.79, with volume at 2.53x its prior 20-bar average.
The window's high was 87,395.67 on 21 September and it closed 12 October at 81,850.00, still above the teal band. At capture the panel read Uptrend, Trend age 88 bars, Last signal Heavy breakout up, 59 bars ago (it reads the last closed candle, so later days show later numbers). What we take is context: trend side, its age and the one break per trend with unusual volume. No target, no stop, no claim that a Heavy break keeps going.
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❖ OTHER APPLICATIONS
- Swing trading on daily charts: the band as a trend filter and the diamond as the place swing structure gave way with it.
- Reviewing breaks: set Breakout marks to All and hover older diamonds whose level was later closed back through, then compare their grades.
- Multi-market: one 20-candle yardstick on crypto, stocks and futures that publish volume.
- Alert-driven workflow: subscribe to Breakout Up and Breakout Down and open the chart only when a confirmed break prints, its grade in the message.
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⚙ GETTING STARTED
HalfTrend Breakout ships with three pre-tuned profiles. Pick one and start reading:
- Balanced (default): Amplitude 10, Channel Deviation 2.0. Start here.
- Reactive: 6 and 1.5. The band turns sooner, so you see more flips.
- Smooth: 16 and 2.5. The band turns later, so you see fewer flips.
- Custom: unlocks Amplitude and Channel Deviation.
A profile changes the band, its turns and the swing breaks it allows; it says nothing about what price does next.
Settings that matter:
- Amplitude (Custom): candles the band looks back for its swing. Higher means slower turns and a calmer band.
- Channel Deviation (Custom): how far the band sits from price. Higher means fewer, later turns.
- Breakout marks: 1st Heavy (default, the first Heavy break of each trend), All Heavy (every Heavy break), All (every break, the diamond sized by its grade), 1st break (the first break of each trend, any volume) or Off.
- Show flip marks and Show broken level: the arrows and the dashed lines on or off.
Display: Show band, Look (Clean by default, a thin line with a short soft edge; Bold, the same line with a wide glow), Show band fill, Theme (Auto by default; Dark, Light), Show Info Panel, Panel Position (Btm Right by default; Top Right, Top Left, Btm Left, Mid Right) and Panel size (Normal by default; Small, Large). Colours: Up colour, Down colour and Neutral colour. Every input has a hover.
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△ LIMITATIONS
- Lag: like a Supertrend, the band turns after the move starts; a swing is known two candles late.
- Not an outcome: a diamond records the breakout close; price can close back through the broken level afterwards.
- Relative grade: after a quiet stretch an ordinary candle can read Heavy. Heavy is recorded volume, not confidence.
- Volume feed: some stock symbols load one venue's volume, not the consolidated total. Unavailable means the candle's volume is missing, the prior 20-candle window is incomplete, or its average is not positive.
- Intraday stocks: a session-opening gap and its recorded volume can affect the breakout reading; the grade is not session adjusted.
- Panel: it reads the newest closed candle, not the right edge of a scrolled-back window; move it with Panel Position if it covers candles.
- History: the newest 100 marks of each kind and direction are kept; older marks and lines are removed. Events and alerts are not affected.
- Warm-up: the first 150 candles of a chart are a warm-up; the band, marks, panel and alerts start after them. A chart that loads a different amount of history can show a different band.
- Repaint: the band moves on the open candle and is final on close; arrows, diamonds, lines, the panel and alerts use closed candles only.
- Chart types: Renko, Kagi, Point and Figure, Line Break and Range show No reading.
- Alert delivery: saved-alert firing, server-side placeholder expansion and notification delivery were not tested on our account.
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🔔 ALERTS
- Breakout Up (Once Per Bar Close) / Breakout Down (Once Per Bar Close): a close past the pending swing high or low with the band.
- Regime Up (Once Per Bar Close) / Regime Down (Once Per Bar Close): a close past the upper or lower band that turns the band.
- Any alert() function call: one JSON message per event with brand, indicator, event, ticker, timeframe, price, level, rv, rv_bars, grade, bar_time and confirmed.
All fire on the confirmed bar close (set to Once Per Bar Close); a cross that reverses before the close sends nothing. Breakout messages carry symbol, timeframe, close, level, volume multiple, grade step (1 Light, 2 Middle, 3 Heavy, 0 Unavailable) and bar time; regime messages say the grade is not applicable. Each ends "Confirmed on bar close." Alerts fire for every breakout, whatever Breakout marks shows. Pick one mechanism per event.
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⌁ NOTES
- Lineage: Everget's HalfTrend (2021), Bill Williams fractals (Trading Chaos, 1995), and the concept of BigBeluga's HalfTrend Fractal Breakout Engine; written from the public methods by NovaLens.
- Repaint: Confirmed-bar.
- References: Everget, HalfTrend (TradingView, 2021); Bill Williams, Trading Chaos (Wiley, 1995).
- Free and open source under the Mozilla Public License 2.0.
Systematic indicators and strategies from real quant research, designed for a cleaner market view.
🟢 Join our research list: novalens.io
Not financial advice. Always do your own research.
🟢 Join our research list: novalens.io
Not financial advice. Always do your own research.
Declinazione di responsabilità
Le informazioni e le pubblicazioni non sono intese come, e non costituiscono, consulenza o raccomandazioni finanziarie, di investimento, di trading o di altro tipo fornite o approvate da TradingView. Per ulteriori informazioni, consultare i Termini di utilizzo.
Systematic indicators and strategies from real quant research, designed for a cleaner market view.
🟢 Join our research list: novalens.io
Not financial advice. Always do your own research.
🟢 Join our research list: novalens.io
Not financial advice. Always do your own research.
Declinazione di responsabilità
Le informazioni e le pubblicazioni non sono intese come, e non costituiscono, consulenza o raccomandazioni finanziarie, di investimento, di trading o di altro tipo fornite o approvate da TradingView. Per ulteriori informazioni, consultare i Termini di utilizzo.