Scalper Ribbon
The Scalper Ribbon from Trend Friend blends six different oscillators, including price action, momentum and RSI readings, into one smoothed trend strength line, so you get a clean read on bullish or bearish conditions without all of the noise that most oscillators give you.
The ribbon plots in its own pane below your chart and turns green when bullish pressure is building and red when bearish pressure is building, with a midline and a neutral zone that show you trend strength at a glance. It also comes with six built in alerts and a trend direction output that other indicators can read and use as a trend filter, so your other tools only give signals when the ribbon agrees.
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How the Ribbon Is Calculated
The ribbon is built from six oscillator readings, and each one watches a different part of market behavior:
Custom formulas blend those readings into a single trend strength score on every candle, then run that score through smoothing stages to create the ribbon line. The smoothing is what separates this from stacking raw oscillators on your chart: the line stays easy to read while still turning quickly enough to catch reversals early and make divergences stand out. The exact formulas, the full list of oscillators, the blending weights and the smoothing methods stay proprietary, since they are what makes this script worth protecting. The categories above are what those formulas are measuring.
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Oscillator Modes
Two calculation modes are included, so you can pick the behavior that fits how you trade:
Try both modes on a few of your favorite tickers and timeframes to see which one suits your trading style.
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Reading the Ribbon
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How to Trade with This Indicator
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Alerts
Six alert conditions are built in, and each pair has a job:
Make sure to set the alert trigger to Once Per Bar Close so you only get alerts on locked in values. Alerts that trigger during the bar can fire on conditions that change again before the candle closes.
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Sending the Trend Direction to Other Indicators
The ribbon sends its current trend direction out through a plot named Trend Direction To Send To External Indicators. The value is 1 when conditions are bullish, -1 when they are bearish and 0 when they are neutral. The plot stays off the pane so it does not clutter your chart, but you can watch the live value in the data window, and any indicator that can read another indicator's value as a source can use it as a trend filter. Some of our other indicators include external filter inputs built for exactly this, so those scripts only give signals when the Scalper Ribbon agrees with the direction.
The External Indicator Trend Filter Setting controls what condition drives the output:
Any state that does not meet the selected condition sends 0, which tells the other indicator to stay flat and give no trades.
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Higher Timeframe Data, Signal Confirmation and Repainting
No higher timeframe data is used. This script does not request data from any other timeframe and does not use lookahead to read future data anywhere. Every value is calculated from the candles on your chart, and nothing is plotted with an offset into the past.
Live values on the open bar. The ribbon value, its color and the trend direction output all update in real time on the current, still forming candle, the same way any standard oscillator does. While the candle is open, the ribbon can rise, fall or change color as price moves.
Closed bars are final. The moment a candle closes, its ribbon value and color are locked in permanently and can never change, move or repaint afterward. Every value you see on closed bars printed in real time and never changed after the fact. If you only want confirmed readings, wait for the candle to close and keep your alerts set to Once Per Bar Close.
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Settings Overview
Oscillator Settings
External Trend Direction Settings
For best results, set both lengths to time based intervals that match your chart. On the 1 minute chart use 15 or 60 to cover 15 minutes or 1 hour of data, on the 5 minute chart use 12 for an hour of data, and on the 15 minute chart use 16 for 4 hours of data. Keep the Smoothing Length matched to the Length Of Oscillator for the smoothest ribbon, or drop it lower to make the ribbon react faster.
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Markets and Timeframes
Stocks, crypto, futures and forex all work, and so does every chart timeframe. The default settings are set up for the 1 minute chart in Smooth mode, so when you move to higher timeframes, adjust the lengths using the time based method above. The calculation also stays valid through flat and illiquid stretches, so halts, dead markets and thin symbols do not leave gaps or broken segments in the ribbon.
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Important Notes and Limitations
The ribbon plots in its own pane below your chart and turns green when bullish pressure is building and red when bearish pressure is building, with a midline and a neutral zone that show you trend strength at a glance. It also comes with six built in alerts and a trend direction output that other indicators can read and use as a trend filter, so your other tools only give signals when the ribbon agrees.
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How the Ribbon Is Calculated
The ribbon is built from six oscillator readings, and each one watches a different part of market behavior:
- Price action - where price sits inside its recent trading range
- Momentum - whether price is speeding up or slowing down
- Overbought and oversold positioning - RSI style readings that show when price is stretched too far in one direction
- Directional pressure - whether buyers or sellers have control of the recent bars
Custom formulas blend those readings into a single trend strength score on every candle, then run that score through smoothing stages to create the ribbon line. The smoothing is what separates this from stacking raw oscillators on your chart: the line stays easy to read while still turning quickly enough to catch reversals early and make divergences stand out. The exact formulas, the full list of oscillators, the blending weights and the smoothing methods stay proprietary, since they are what makes this script worth protecting. The categories above are what those formulas are measuring.
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Oscillator Modes
Two calculation modes are included, so you can pick the behavior that fits how you trade:
- Smooth (default) - The oscillator readings and the smoothing both follow your length inputs and the result gets extra smoothing passes, which makes the ribbon cleaner and better at holding a trend. The default settings are dialed in for 1 minute charts on this mode.
- Original - The core oscillator readings run on fixed internal settings while your length inputs control the smoothing, so it reacts faster and shows more movement than Smooth mode.
Try both modes on a few of your favorite tickers and timeframes to see which one suits your trading style.
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Reading the Ribbon
- Color - Green when the ribbon is rising and red when it is falling. If the ribbon goes perfectly flat for a bar, it holds its last color until the direction actually changes, so a pause in the middle of a trend does not flash a false flip.
- Midline - The white line at 25. The ribbon is overall bullish above the midline and overall bearish below it.
- Neutral zone - The two blue lines at 0 and 50 mark off a buffer area I call the neutral zone. When the ribbon is inside it, the market is undecided, so expect chop and stand aside until the ribbon breaks out.
- Trend strength - The farther the ribbon travels from the neutral zone, the stronger the trend.
- Exact line values are neutral - A ribbon value sitting exactly on the 0, 25 or 50 line counts as neutral in every alert and every trend output option. The ribbon has to actually be past a line to count as above or below it.
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How to Trade with This Indicator
- Wait for the ribbon to break out above or break down below the neutral zone before entering, so you are trading when price is actually moving instead of chopping sideways.
- Trade with the midline. Favor longs while the ribbon is above 25 and shorts while it is below 25.
- Find tops and bottoms by watching for the ribbon to turn when it is stretched far from the neutral zone. Those turns often show up before the reversal is obvious on the price chart.
- Watch for divergences. When price makes a new high but the ribbon makes a lower high, or price makes a new low but the ribbon makes a higher low, the move is losing strength and a reversal may be close.
- Use ribbon flips as early entry and exit cues, and use the midline and neutral zone conditions for confirmation once the move is established.
- Make sure you study how the ribbon behaves on several tickers and timeframes and get a feel for it before adding it to your strategy.
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Alerts
Six alert conditions are built in, and each pair has a job:
- Ribbon Flipped To Bullish / Ribbon Flipped To Bearish - Fires the moment the ribbon changes direction. Best for catching early entries and exits. A flat bar cannot block these, so if the ribbon pauses for a bar and then turns, the flip alert still fires.
- Bullish & Above Mid Line / Bearish & Below Mid Line - Fires while the ribbon is moving and on the matching side of the midline. More reliable once a reversal has been established.
- Bullish & Above Neutral Zone / Bearish & Below Neutral Zone - Fires while the ribbon is moving and past the neutral zone. Best for signals in the same direction as a strong trend.
Make sure to set the alert trigger to Once Per Bar Close so you only get alerts on locked in values. Alerts that trigger during the bar can fire on conditions that change again before the candle closes.
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Sending the Trend Direction to Other Indicators
The ribbon sends its current trend direction out through a plot named Trend Direction To Send To External Indicators. The value is 1 when conditions are bullish, -1 when they are bearish and 0 when they are neutral. The plot stays off the pane so it does not clutter your chart, but you can watch the live value in the data window, and any indicator that can read another indicator's value as a source can use it as a trend filter. Some of our other indicators include external filter inputs built for exactly this, so those scripts only give signals when the Scalper Ribbon agrees with the direction.
The External Indicator Trend Filter Setting controls what condition drives the output:
- Ribbon Direction Only - 1 when the ribbon is rising, -1 when it is falling
- Above/Below Midline Only (default) - 1 above the 25 midline, -1 below it
- Above/Below Neutral Zone Only - 1 above the 50 line, -1 below the 0 line
- Ribbon Direction + Above/Below Midline - Requires the ribbon direction and the midline condition to agree
- Ribbon Direction + Above/Below Neutral Zone - Requires the ribbon direction and the neutral zone condition to agree
Any state that does not meet the selected condition sends 0, which tells the other indicator to stay flat and give no trades.
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Higher Timeframe Data, Signal Confirmation and Repainting
No higher timeframe data is used. This script does not request data from any other timeframe and does not use lookahead to read future data anywhere. Every value is calculated from the candles on your chart, and nothing is plotted with an offset into the past.
Live values on the open bar. The ribbon value, its color and the trend direction output all update in real time on the current, still forming candle, the same way any standard oscillator does. While the candle is open, the ribbon can rise, fall or change color as price moves.
Closed bars are final. The moment a candle closes, its ribbon value and color are locked in permanently and can never change, move or repaint afterward. Every value you see on closed bars printed in real time and never changed after the fact. If you only want confirmed readings, wait for the candle to close and keep your alerts set to Once Per Bar Close.
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Settings Overview
Oscillator Settings
- Length info panel - A checkbox at the top of the settings that holds instructions for using time based lengths. It does not change any calculation, it just keeps the guidance one click away.
- Oscillator Mode - Choose Smooth or Original, as covered above.
- Length Of Oscillator - Controls the length of the oscillator readings and the main trend direction parameters. Lower values react faster with more noise, higher values react slower with less noise. Default is 15.
- Smoothing Length - Controls how much the ribbon is smoothed. Lower it to make the ribbon react quicker or raise it to hold trends longer. Default is 15.
External Trend Direction Settings
- External Indicator Trend Filter Setting - Picks which of the five conditions listed above drives the 1, -1 or 0 output. Default is Above/Below Midline Only.
For best results, set both lengths to time based intervals that match your chart. On the 1 minute chart use 15 or 60 to cover 15 minutes or 1 hour of data, on the 5 minute chart use 12 for an hour of data, and on the 15 minute chart use 16 for 4 hours of data. Keep the Smoothing Length matched to the Length Of Oscillator for the smoothest ribbon, or drop it lower to make the ribbon react faster.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Markets and Timeframes
Stocks, crypto, futures and forex all work, and so does every chart timeframe. The default settings are set up for the 1 minute chart in Smooth mode, so when you move to higher timeframes, adjust the lengths using the time based method above. The calculation also stays valid through flat and illiquid stretches, so halts, dead markets and thin symbols do not leave gaps or broken segments in the ribbon.
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Important Notes and Limitations
- This is a trend and momentum reading tool, not an automatic buy and sell system. It does not print entry arrows, so pair it with your own levels and analysis when timing trades.
- The ribbon can stay at extreme readings for a long time in a strong trend. A high reading alone is not a reason to short and a low reading alone is not a reason to buy, so wait for the ribbon to actually turn.
- Low volume, choppy markets keep the ribbon inside the neutral zone more often and give fewer clean breakouts, so high volume tickers give the best results.
- Values on the open candle update until the close, so treat live bar readings as early information and wait for the close when you want confirmation.
- No indicator is right all of the time and past results never guarantee future performance. Treat the ribbon as one decision tool inside your plan and manage your risk on every trade.
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Get Access To Our Pro Indicator Suites > friendofthetrend.com/pricing/
Join Our Trading Group - facebook.com/groups/stockandcryptotradingstrategies
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.
Disponibile nello spazio a pagamento
Questo indicatore è disponibile solo per gli abbonati a Premium Indicator Suite. Iscriviti per accedere a questo e ad altri script di TrendFriendIndicators.
Trend Friend - Professionally Built Trading Indicators For All Your Favorite Markets
Get Access To Our Pro Indicator Suites > friendofthetrend.com/pricing/
Join Our Trading Group - facebook.com/groups/stockandcryptotradingstrategies
Get Access To Our Pro Indicator Suites > friendofthetrend.com/pricing/
Join Our Trading Group - facebook.com/groups/stockandcryptotradingstrategies
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.