Squeeze Scan — how to read it

The Squeeze Scan hunts for volatility compression — the quiet, coiled periods that tend to precede big directional moves — across an entire watchlist and nine timeframes at once (5m, 10m, 15m, 30m, 1h, 4h, 1d, 1w, 1M). It is a faithful port of the "Squeeze Ultra" indicator (a TTM-Squeeze lineage tool), turned into a grid so you can spot which ticker and which timeframe is set to fire next.

Open the Squeeze Scan →

This is a members-only tab. The guide below is free to read; opening the live scanner requires a signed-in paid account.

What "a squeeze" actually is

A squeeze happens when the Bollinger Bands (volatility around a moving average) contract inside the Keltner Channels (volatility around average true range). When the faster, standard-deviation-based bands sit inside the ATR-based channels, the market is unusually calm — energy is building. When the bands expand back outside, the squeeze "fires" and a move is often underway.

The algorithm, in detail

• Three squeeze tiers. The scan measures the Bollinger upper band (EMA basis, 2 standard deviations) against the Keltner upper band (SMA basis plus an EMA-of-true-range shift) at three widths — 1.0, 1.5 and 2.0. That grades compression as HIGH (tightest), MID, or LOW. Length auto-sets to 13 on intraday timeframes and 21 on daily and above.
• Squeeze-momentum histogram. The classic linear-regression momentum oscillator, with four-state coloring: rising vs. falling, above vs. below zero. It tells you which way the coiled energy is leaning before and as the squeeze releases.
• Ideal squeeze (EMA stack). A high-quality setup flag: the 8-, 13- and 21-EMAs stacked 8 > 13 > 21 with the 13 and 21 sloping up, while a MID squeeze is on — trend, momentum and compression all aligned.
• Sushi Roll buy/sell. An 8×13 EMA flip, gated by the 13-vs-21 moving-average stack, for a directional trigger.
• Dot count & FIRED. Each cell tracks how many consecutive bars the squeeze has held (the "dot" count — longer coils tend to release harder) and flags FIRED when a squeeze has released within the last few bars.
• ADX & ADR. Per cell, ADX(14) for trend strength and ADR% (average bar range over 20 bars as a percent of price) so you can judge whether a fire has room to travel.

The panes

Timeframe grid (left)

Every watchlist ticker as a row, the nine timeframes as columns. Each cell shows its squeeze tier, dot count, FIRED status and momentum lean — a heat-map of where the market is coiled. Click any cell to load that ticker and timeframe on the chart.

Indicator chart (right)

The full Squeeze Ultra chart for the selected cell: squeeze dots on the zero line, the four-color momentum histogram, and the EMA stack — the same graphics the Pine indicator draws.

Performance / track record

Tracked fires (squeezes of at least six dots) are graded on whether the post-fire move reached its target bracket, so you can see how often fires on a given timeframe actually followed through.

Potential Trade Ideas + Risk Graph

Rule-based ideas from the live setup — options debit spreads for equities/ETFs or long/short asset plans for crypto — each with a Risk Graph button that pre-fills the trade so you can inspect its profit/loss profile.

Concepts & glossary

• Bollinger Bands — a moving average with bands set a number of standard deviations away; they widen in volatility and narrow in calm.
• Keltner Channels — a moving average with bands set by average true range; the yardstick the squeeze measures against.
• Momentum histogram — a linear-regression oscillator showing the direction and acceleration of the coiled energy.
• ADX — trend-strength index; under ~20 is choppy, over ~25 is trending.
• ADR% — average daily (or per-bar) range as a percent of price, a room-to-run gauge.

Why regular-hours intraday data?

Intraday timeframes are scanned on regular-hours bars only (9:30-16:00 ET). Overnight bars are thin and quiet, which would register as a permanent, false squeeze — so extended hours are excluded intraday. The 1h and 4h series are aggregated from 30-minute bars anchored at the session open, the way ThinkorSwim and TradingView draw intraday hours.

Related scanners: the MarketCipher Scan for momentum waves, the RipsterCloud Scan for trend-pullback entries, and the EMACloud Scan for key-level reactions. See them all on the Help hub.

Educational content only — nothing on this page is financial advice or a recommendation to buy or sell any security. Signals are rule-based analytics; backtested and historical results do not guarantee future performance. Markets involve risk. © SPX Lens · About · Help & FAQ