I am trying to view the values of the Bollinger Band Width Indicator with a 3 min chart but the values displayed are all 0.00   The BB parameters I use are 30 period lookback with 1 StDev.  If the correct values would display, then I would create a condition for identifying when < .15  Can you help ?

I currently have 2741 symbols in the US Common Stocks WatchList which don't display 0.00 in a 3-Minute Time Frame. This means that more than half of the symbols in the WatchList do. There is a good reason for this however.

The value being displayed is the width of the Bollinger Bands divided by the value of the center line of the Bollinger Bands (which is Moving Average with the same period as the Bollinger Bands).

Modelling Bollinger Bands (& Standard Deviation) in a TC PCF

2 * SQR(ABS(C ^ 2 + C1 ^ 2 + C2 ^ 2 + C3 ^ 2 + C4 ^ 2 + C5 ^ 2 + C6 ^ 2 + C7 ^ 2 + C8 ^ 2 + C9 ^ 2 + C10 ^ 2 + C11 ^ 2 + C12 ^ 2 + C13 ^ 2 + C14 ^ 2 + C15 ^ 2 + C16 ^ 2 + C17 ^ 2 + C18 ^ 2 + C19 ^ 2 + C20 ^ 2 + C21 ^ 2 + C22 ^ 2 + C23 ^ 2 + C24 ^ 2 + C25 ^ 2 + C26 ^ 2 + C27 ^ 2 + C28 ^ 2 + C29 ^ 2 - 30 * AVGC30 ^ 2) / 30) / AVGC30

This means a Daily Time Frame is normally going to produce a far higher value than a 3-Minute Time Frame.

Note that we increase the value displayed by increasing the Std Dev setting of the Bollinger Bandwidth indicator to allow you to use your .15 setting. The other option would be to test against a value smaller than .15.

Thanks Bruce.  Is there a way to see values of the BB width without that value being divided by the center line MA ?

You could use a Custom PCF Indicator. The formula in my previous post without the / AVGC30 at the end would do it:

2 * SQR(ABS(C ^ 2 + C1 ^ 2 + C2 ^ 2 + C3 ^ 2 + C4 ^ 2 + C5 ^ 2 + C6 ^ 2 + C7 ^ 2 + C8 ^ 2 + C9 ^ 2 + C10 ^ 2 + C11 ^ 2 + C12 ^ 2 + C13 ^ 2 + C14 ^ 2 + C15 ^ 2 + C16 ^ 2 + C17 ^ 2 + C18 ^ 2 + C19 ^ 2 + C20 ^ 2 + C21 ^ 2 + C22 ^ 2 + C23 ^ 2 + C24 ^ 2 + C25 ^ 2 + C26 ^ 2 + C27 ^ 2 + C28 ^ 2 + C29 ^ 2 - 30 * AVGC30 ^ 2) / 30)

It should probably be noted that dividing by the Moving Average is done for a reason. It allows the values to be comparable between symbols.

Bruce - I get the message shown. 

All that means is that you tried to create it as a Condition Formula when it is not. It is an Indicator Formula and will show up in Indicators along the left.

If you want to create a Condition Formula out of it, you would need to add the < .15 to the end of the formula:

2 * SQR(ABS(C ^ 2 + C1 ^ 2 + C2 ^ 2 + C3 ^ 2 + C4 ^ 2 + C5 ^ 2 + C6 ^ 2 + C7 ^ 2 + C8 ^ 2 + C9 ^ 2 + C10 ^ 2 + C11 ^ 2 + C12 ^ 2 + C13 ^ 2 + C14 ^ 2 + C15 ^ 2 + C16 ^ 2 + C17 ^ 2 + C18 ^ 2 + C19 ^ 2 + C20 ^ 2 + C21 ^ 2 + C22 ^ 2 + C23 ^ 2 + C24 ^ 2 + C25 ^ 2 + C26 ^ 2 + C27 ^ 2 + C28 ^ 2 + C29 ^ 2 - 30 * AVGC30 ^ 2) / 30) < .15

My suggestion had been to add it as a Custom PCF Indicator. This is done by selecting Add Indicators from the top of the chart and selecting Custom PCF Indicator from the list. You can then click on the Custom PCF Indicator and select Create Scan Condition to create a Condition.

Bruce - thanks so much.  Perfect.  Exactly what I was looking for.

You're welcome.