Squeeze Scanner

Stocks that have stopped moving much. Day after day the range gets smaller, the Bollinger Bands pinch in, and the chart turns into a tight box.

Traders watch these because a long quiet stretch often ends with a bigger move. The scan does not know which way it will go. It tells you which stocks are coiled, and then tells you when one starts to move.

This page is about volatility squeezes. If you came for short squeezes, where heavy short interest meets a rising price, see high short float stocks.

Some traders use a squeeze rule where the Bollinger Bands slip inside a Keltner-style channel. Trade Ideas has no built-in indicator for that, and it does not claim one. What you can do is build a daily version yourself in the Formula Editor, using values the editor already exposes.

Here is one way to write it. It compares two standard deviations of price to one and a half times the Average True Range:

2*std_20 < 1.5*[ATR]

When the formula is true, the bands are tighter than the ATR-based channel, so the stock is coiled. Add it as a custom filter, then sort or filter on it like any other column.

This is a daily, approximate version built on simple averages and ATR. It is not the exact TTM-style indicator some charting apps show, and it has no momentum histogram. The Formula Editor is included in every TI Pro plan.

NR7 means the narrowest range of the last seven bars. It is one of the simplest squeeze signals, and Trade Ideas fires it live: NR7 (15 Minute) (NR7) on 15 minute bars, NR7 (5 Minute) (NR7_5) on 5 minute, NR7 (1 Minute) (NR7_1) on 1 minute, and more.

Back-to-back NR7 bars are counted too, so a stock printing its second or third narrow bar in a row stands out.

An NR7 is not a direction. It is a quiet bar. Many traders set a buy stop above it and a sell stop below it and let price choose.

Once you have a list of coiled stocks, the breakout alerts do the watching. 5 Minute Consolidation Breakout (CBO5) and 15 Minute Consolidation Breakout (CBO15) fire when price leaves a consolidation. Channel Breakout (CHBO) fires on a channel break. Standard Deviation Breakout (BBU) fires when the day's move reaches one standard deviation.

Put Relative Volume (RV) at 1.5 or more on the same window so a breakout on no volume stays quiet.

1. Build a Top List (Screener) with Range Contraction at a min of 3, or Consolidation at a min of 7.
2. Add Price, Dollar Volume and Spread filters so the list is tradable.
3. If you want the daily squeeze formula, add it in the Formula Editor and filter on it.
4. In TI Pro, open an alert window with NR7, Consolidation Breakout and Channel Breakout, using the same filters plus Relative Volume.
5. Save both. The list shows who is coiled; the alerts show who is moving.

The Bollinger Band scanner page is about the indicator itself: where price sits in the bands, band breaks and stretched stocks. This page is about the setup: a stock going quiet, then breaking out. They share filters, and many traders run both.

Price does not move in a straight line, and it does not sit still for long. Stretches of small ranges tend to give way to bigger ones, and big ones tend to settle down again. A squeeze scan is a way to be early to the switch from quiet to busy.

It is a probability idea, not a promise. Some quiet stocks stay quiet, and some break the wrong way.

Intraday squeezes are the same idea on smaller bars. Position in Bollinger Bands (5 min) (Boll5) near 50 with NR7 (5 Minute) (NR7_5) firing is a stock coiling on the 5 minute chart. Consolidation (C) fires as a tight range forms intraday, and the consolidation breakout alerts fire as it ends.

Intraday squeezes resolve faster and smaller. They suit day trades more than swing trades.

Average True Range (ATR) is the average daily range in dollars over 14 days. It helps in two ways. A low ATR compared to the stock's usual helps confirm a quiet stretch. And ATR sizes your stop: a stock with a $1.20 ATR needs more room than one with $0.30.

The formula has two sides. 2*std_20 is two standard deviations of the last 20 days, the same width Bollinger Bands use on each side. 1.5*[ATR] is one and a half times the Average True Range, a stand-in for a Keltner-style channel width.

When the left side is smaller, the bands are inside the channel: the squeeze is "on." When the stock starts moving, the standard deviation grows and the formula turns false. Sorting by the gap between the two sides shows the tightest coils first.

1. A Top List shows stocks with Range Contraction at 4 days and the squeeze formula true.
2. One stock has traded in a tight range for a week.
3. An NR7 bar prints, then Consolidation Breakout fires on 15 minute bars with Relative Volume over 2.
4. A trader using this setup might enter on the break with a stop on the other side of the range.

Range Contraction (RC), Range Contraction, counts how many days in a row the daily range has shrunk. A value of 3 means three straight days, each narrower than the last. A max of -3 flips it to range expansion. Range (5 day, %) (Range5DP) gives the width of the last 5 days as a percent of price, without today; under 3% on a stock that normally moves more is a tight box.

Consolidation (C), the Consolidation alert, fires when a stock settles into a tight range as it forms. It uses volume-weighted statistics to pick the best time frame on its own, so you do not choose a bar length. It is a good first look at intraday squeezes before the breakout alerts take over.

Nothing in a squeeze tells you the direction. Traders look at clues outside it: the trend before the squeeze, where price sits inside the box, and what the market is doing. Many set alerts on both sides and let price decide.

Both-sides window

Example numbers, not a real trade

1. A stock’s 5 day range is $1.10 on a $40 price, under 3%.
2. RC reads 4.
3. CBO15 fires at $40.70 on Relative Volume of 2.2.
4. Stop at $40.10, inside the range; the first target is the width of the box added to the breakout, about $41.80.

Squeezes often form before scheduled news, as traders wait. Earnings Date (EarningD) shows how many days until a stock reports. A squeeze that ends on earnings day can break hard in either direction.

Squeezes break both ways. The first move out of the box can fail and reverse.

Quiet stocks can stay quiet for weeks. A coil is a watchlist, not a trade.

Earnings dates often sit right after a long quiet stretch. Check the calendar.

Test your rules in a simulated account first.