How to identify a Bollinger Band Squeeze depends on the definition. Most of the people providing a definition have defined it as the net Bollinger Bandwidth being less than 6% of the centerline (they also usually specify a Period of 20 and a Std Dev setting of 2.00).

The best way to do this is to add Bollinger Bandwidth to the Charts and click on the BB to select Create Scan Condition | Less Than: .06

A Condition created this way is both easier to create and far more efficient than creating a Condition Formula. It will use fewer resources and calculate more quickly.

If you really need a Condition Formula instead, a Condition Formula for the 20-Period Simple Bollinger Band being less than 6% of the centerline could be written as:

4 * 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 - 20 * AVGC20 ^ 2) / 20) / AVGC20 < .06

Another possibility is that you want the Bollinger Bands to be decreasing in width for at least a certain number of bars. We can do this by creating a Condition Formula for the 20-Period Simple Bollinger Bands to be decreasing in width from one bar to the next:

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 - 20 * AVGC20 ^ 2) < ABS(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 - 20 * AVGC20.1 ^ 2)

And then using it as the Boolean Indicator in a Custom PCF % True with the Period set to the number of bars over which you wish to test and the Average Type set to Simple. You would then click on the Custom PCF % True Indicator and select Create Scan Condition | Greater Than: 99.9.

Creating Conditions from Your Chart

HI,

I found your post explanation re: BB Squeeze, which is the following," The best way to do this is to add Bollinger Bandwidth to the Charts and click on the BB to select Create Scan Condition | Less Than: .06"

I need a further explantion in setting up this scan. After selecting Create Scan, there are different selections to choose for example, Channel Bottom < or >, Channel Top < or > etc..

How would I input the Less than: .06 ?

Thanks

It reads like you have added a Bollinger Band indicator instead of a Bollinger Bandwidth indicator.

Once you add a Bollinger Bandwidth indicator and click on it instead of the Bollinger Band indicator to select Create Scan Condition, you will not have any channel related options available. You would then choose "Less Than" in the Condition drop-down menu as indicated in my original post. Once you select Less Than, there will be a Less Than box available in the Create Scan Condition window into which the .06 can be entered.

Bruce,

"The best way to do this is to add Bollinger Bandwidth to the Charts and click on the BB to select Create Scan Condition | Less Than: .06"

Does this mean the price is less than .06 away from either side of the center line and this condition covers 20 periods as set in the Bandwidth statement?  Thanks....

Bollinger Bandwidth in TC2000 is the ratio of the width of that Bollinger Band to its centerline.

In the case of 20-Period Simple Bollinger Bandwidth 20, 2.00 being less than .06, this would mean the total width of the Bollinger Bands (or 4 times a 20-period standand deviation) is less than 6% of the 20-period simple moving average.

Hmm, suppose I want know when they narrow to the point that the Bollinger Band Width is less then the Keltner channel 20,1.5,10 where the first number (20) sets the periods for the exponential moving average. The second number (1.5) is the ATR multiplier. The third number (10) is the number of periods for Average True Range (ATR).

Searching for TTM Squeeze or Keltner Squeeze should find numerous topics where the Keltne Channels and Bollinger Bands are compared.

Please try the following Condition Formula for Bollinger Bands 20, 2.00 having a narrower bandwidth than Keltner Channels 10, 1.50:

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 - 20 * AVGC20 ^ 2) / 20) < 1.5 * (AVGH10 - AVGL10) / 2 + (ABS(H - C1) + ABS(C1 - L) + ABS(H1 - C2) + ABS(C2 - L1) + ABS(H2 - C3) + ABS(C3 - L2) + ABS(H3 - C4) + ABS(C4 - L3) + ABS(H4 - C5) + ABS(C5 - L4) + ABS(H5 - C6) + ABS(C6 - L5) + ABS(H6 - C7) + ABS(C7 - L6) + ABS(H7 - C8) + ABS(C8 - L7) + ABS(H8 - C9) + ABS(C9 - L8) + ABS(H9 - C10) + ABS(C10 - L9)) / 20

But your equation only addresses the upper Bollinger Band compared to the upper Keltner channel and my question was about the bandwidths. It is not always the case that if the upper BB is inside the upper Keltner channel that the lower BB is inside the lower Keltner channel.

Before I go on perhaps I need to do the other seraches you suggest & see what is there.

The Condition Formula given in my last post has absolutely nothing to do with the upper Bollinger Band and upper Keltner Channel and I'm not quite sure what would lead you to believe it does.

In fact with the Bollinger Bands and Keltner Channels having such different periods, there are probably numerous cases where the formula returns true where the upper Bollinger Band would be above the upper Keltner Channel.

The formula compares the bandwidths of the Bollinger Bands and Keltner Channels directly and returns true when the Bollinger Bands are narrower than the Keltner Channels irrespective of the relative positions of either the upper or lower bands of the Bollinger Bands and Keltner Channels.