Prices on the chart are represented with bars. Each bar consists of the open, high, low and close for the period.  The green portion indicates that the close was greater than the open, and the red portion indicates that the close was less than the open. Blue portions are the day's range.

Bar (Traditional)
All bars black.

Bar (Interday Color)
Color of bars based on today's change.
If today's last price is greater than yesterday's close, bar is green.
If today's last price is less than yesterday's close, bar is red.

Bar (Intraday Color)
Color of bars based on intraday action.
If last is greater than open, bar is green.
If last is less than open, bar is red.

Bollinger Envelopes are a variation on Bollinger Bands that focus on the extremes of price action. Bollinger Bands are centered on a moving average--usually of the close, while Bollinger Envelopes are anchored by the extremes, the highs and the lows.

The upper Bollinger Envelope is constructed from a moving average of the highs and the standard deviation of the highs, the lower Bollinger Envelope is constructed from a moving average of the lows and the standard deviation of the lows. Here are the formulas:

UpperBE = Average(highs, 20) + 1.5 * StandardDeviation(highs, 20)
LowerBE = Average(lows, 20) - 1.5 * StandardDeviation(lows, 20)
MiddleBE = (UpperBE + LowerBE) / 2

Bollinger Envelopes are particularly useful in extreme market action and are the base of the Ice Breaker trading system.

Numbers and arrows represent past buy or sell Methods signals. To see all the stocks with Methods signals, go to the Lists section.

Signal = Buy = Sell

Type of Method 1 = Volatility Breakout 2 = Trend Following 3 = Reversals 4 = Confirmed Breakout

A positive PowerShift signal occurs when a security has become severely oversold and strengthens enough to potentially break the decline. Positive PowerShift signals are marked by a rising wedge with a green core plotted beneath the day on which they occurred.

A negative PowerShift signal is just the opposite of a positive PowerShift with a small variation in the logic and is marked by a falling wedge with a red core plotted above the day on which it occurred.

A negative Pivot occurs when a severely oversold security strengthens and then fails. A pivot sell is marked by a red minus sign plotted above the day it occurs.

A positive Pivot is the reverse of a negative Pivot, again with a small change in the logic, and is marked with a green plus beneath the day on which it occurred.


There is a difference in the logic between the positive and negative signals, based upon the idea that declines generally precede at a faster pace than advances. (The old saw goes, "Down is faster!")

Pivots usually, but not necessarily, occur after PowerShifts. Conceptually Pivots are companions to PowerShifts and should mark reaction highs after important lows and vice versa. An idealized chart is presented below.

For daily charts, a PowerShift or Pivot may appear on the current day, however the signal is not confirmed until the close.

Weekly signals are calculated at end-of-week. Any weekly signal appearing for the current week is not yet a confirmed PowerShift or Pivot.