Multi-Timeframe Squeeze Indicator for ThinkOrSwim (Free Download)

What it shows

What the MTF Squeeze Indicator Shows

The MTF Squeeze indicator is a row of chart labels, one per timeframe, that shows whether each timeframe is in a squeeze. It saves you from flipping through charts: one glance tells you which timeframes have the default squeeze.

Each label is red when that timeframe has a squeeze and dark green when it doesn't. The free download covers 18 timeframes. The table lists each label with the aggregation period and the period string the code uses for it.

Labels only appear for timeframes equal to or higher than your chart's. ThinkOrSwim can read higher timeframes from the chart you're on, but nothing lower. On a 5-minute chart you'll see 5m and up, and you won't know whether the 1, 2, 3 or 4-minute charts have a squeeze. The higher labels also need enough candle data on your chart to calculate.

How to Read the Labels

A red MTF Squeeze label tells you that timeframe is in a squeeze with the default settings. It doesn't tell you which way price breaks or when. Open the red timeframes and read the setup on those charts.

Before you trade a squeeze, decide where your stop goes and size the position so a stop-out costs a small, fixed share of your account. To find squeezes across many stocks instead of one chart, use our free Squeeze dots scan or build a Squeeze dashboard for a watchlist.

Install it in ThinkOrSwim

How to Build It in ThinkOrSwim

Building the MTF Squeeze takes one monthly block of code, then a copy of that block for every other timeframe.

1. Click the Studies icon, click Create, and give the study a name.
2. Add a header comment that credits the Blogspot source code with its link.
3. Define the global variables: length, alert line, nK, nBB and the rest.
4. Write the monthly block: the declarations, the if/else, and 2 labels.
5. Click Apply, then check the M label against the built-in Squeeze on a monthly chart.
6. Copy the block into a text editor, replace month with the next timeframe, fix the label text and the period string, and paste it back. Repeat down to 1 minute.

If you'd rather start from the finished file, download it and follow our guide on how to import a study into ThinkOrSwim.

How the code works

Why the Indicator Rebuilds the Squeeze From Source Code

The built-in Squeeze function in ThinkOrSwim tends to give false squeeze signals inside multi-time frame code. That happens when you reference it inside an if/else block that also uses aggregation periods. It doesn't return the squeeze alert value you'd expect, so the indicator doesn't work the way you want.

ThinkOrSwim's own documentation describes the Squeeze as a measure of two indicators and their relationship: the Bollinger Bands and the Keltner Channels. The squeeze is on when the Bollinger Bands fall inside the Keltner Channels. The Squeeze's source code is hidden, but the Bollinger Band and Keltner Channel source code isn't, so you can rebuild it from those pieces.

To speed things along, I used code that a member sent us from another thinkScript author's Blogspot, which recreates the Squeeze. If you use that code, leave the author's credit and Blogspot link in your header. Our download keeps it on the first lines.

The math comes down to one ratio. Bollinger Band width is a multiple of the standard deviation (nBB), and Keltner Channel width is a multiple of the average true range (nK). The code divides the first by the second and compares the result with the alert line of 1. Below 1, the Bollinger Bands are inside the Keltner Channels, and that timeframe is in a squeeze.

The Multi-Time Frame Framework

The MTF Squeeze is built on the drag-and-drop multi-time frame module from our MTF DMI indicator. Because that code was written to be reusable, I could lift the same framework and drop in the squeeze math. You could do the same for EMA crossovers or your own set of indicators.

• Declare first. Each timeframe's variables are declared above its if/else block.
• Check the timeframe. The if tests whether the chart's aggregation period is less than or equal to the timeframe you want to measure, then assigns the values.
• Default to 0. The else sets every variable to 0 to keep things simple.
• Prefix every name. Each variable starts with its timeframe, like monthPrice, so a find-and-replace turns the monthly block into the weekly one.

If you only need one higher timeframe, such as a daily level on an intraday chart, our tutorial on plotting higher time frame indicators with aggregation periods covers that simpler case.

How the Code Works

The MTF Squeeze code is a short global section followed by 18 blocks that each follow the same pattern. Once you understand the monthly block, you understand all of them.

Step 1: Global Variables

Global variables are the settings that don't change from one timeframe to the next. These are the default values of the built-in Squeeze.

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To change the compression, change nk here. To set a value from the studies menu, change its def to input.

I renamed the source's nBB factor to nBB so the code is easier to copy and paste later.

Step 2: Declare the Monthly Variables

Each monthly variable is declared once, above the if/else, so both branches can assign it.

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The download adds monthAggregationPeriod, a flag that hides the label on charts that can't read the monthly timeframe.

Step 3: The Monthly If Block

The if block checks that the chart is monthly or lower, then calculates the squeeze on monthly bars. Inside it, you assign values without def, because the variables already exist.

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period="Month" makes each price read monthly bars.

The source code called an average true range function, and ThinkOrSwim reported no such function. My workaround was to break it out as the average of TrueRange over the length, with the monthly high, close and low.

Step 4: The Else Block

The else block gives every monthly variable a value of 0. Until each one has a value here, ThinkOrSwim shows an error.

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With that done, one error is left: at least one plot should be defined. The labels fix that.

Step 5: The Labels

AddLabel takes a condition, the text and a color. One label shows when there's a monthly squeeze and the other shows when there isn't.

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In the video I used black for no squeeze. Dark green, which the download uses, is easier to see on a black chart background.

Our AddLabel tutorial covers static and dynamic labels in more depth.

Step 6: Copy the Block to Every Timeframe

Copying the monthly block is where the naming pays off. I paste it into Sublime Text, press Ctrl+H, and replace month with week.

Then change the label text from "M" to "W". That's the one piece that's easy to forget: in the video, my weekly label showed up as a second M until I fixed it.

Some timeframes need a different period string. The aggregation check uses AggregationPeriod.four_days, but inside period I use "4 days" with the number.

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That's how ThinkOrSwim's own examples write it, and it tends to work without glitches. I've had problems with other spellings there in the past.

Examples

Testing It Against the Built-in Squeeze

The MTF Squeeze labels should match the built-in Squeeze study on each timeframe's own chart, so I checked them that way as I built them in the video.

• Monthly, no squeeze. The first chart had no monthly squeeze, and the built-in Squeeze on the monthly chart agreed. Coca-Cola had no monthly squeeze either.
• Monthly squeeze. On a symbol that did have a monthly squeeze, the M label turned red.
• Weekly. After I added the weekly block, that chart showed a squeeze on the monthly and none on the weekly.
• 4-day. The 4D label showed no squeeze, and the 4-day chart confirmed it.

Customize and troubleshoot

Free Download vs the Member Version

The free MTF Squeeze indicator tracks one compression, the default mid compression that the built-in Squeeze uses. Volatility Box members have a second version in Module 9 of the Squeeze Course that takes the code one step further.

In the video, I changed the member version's no-squeeze color from black to dark green in the studies menu, clicked Apply, and every label without a squeeze turned dark green. Colors you can set from the menu also help if you're colorblind.

Customizing and Stacking the Labels

The MTF Squeeze code is straightforward to extend because every timeframe block has the same shape.

Add the Fast and Slow Compressions

• More compressions. Add an nK factor 2 and an nK factor 3, then repeat the squeeze code with a 2 and a 3 version of each variable.
• Inputs instead of fixed values. Change any global def to input to set it from the studies menu.
• Your own colors. Change color.red and color.dark_green in the AddLabel lines.

Stack Them With the MTF Squeeze Histogram

Volatility Box members who also have the MTF Squeeze Histogram indicator, from Module 8 of the Squeeze Course, can load both indicators, and the two sets of labels plot side by side. The fastest way I know to stack them is to click the hamburger menu on the chart, choose Detach, and shrink the window until the two sets of labels stack on top of one another.

If that makes the chart too skinny, a flex grid gives you more control over how wide each chart is.

Common Problems

Most MTF Squeeze problems come from the chart's timeframe, a missing value in the else block, or a label name.

• Lower-timeframe labels are missing. That's by design. On a 5-minute chart, labels below 5 minutes can't calculate. Drop to a 1-minute chart to see all 18, and load enough days of data for the higher timeframes to calculate.
• "At least one plot should be defined." The study needs output. Add the AddLabel lines.
• "No such function" on the ATR line. Use Average(TrueRange(high, close, low), length) with the timeframe's period on each price.
• Two labels with the same letter. You copied a block and didn't change the label text.
• Errors on variables in a new block. Every declared variable needs a value in both the if and the else.

For other errors, our tutorial on how to debug thinkScript code walks through tracking them down.