Support & Resistance

The ±3σ band of the line you trade from, the core line (Total Flow unless you change it), is drawn on the flow panel as two dotted lines:

• Flow Resistance, the upper band (+3σ)
• Flow Support, the lower band (−3σ)

Flow tagging the band is statistically stretched relative to the last 5×-window of its own behaviour, context you would otherwise have to carry in your head. The band is plotted as a dashed grey line at zero until two windows of data have been seen. From then on it is drawn as a provisional band, dashed, in the colour of its "(provisional)" entry (grey by default), until its full lookback is seeded, and from that point it is drawn dotted, in its own colour (light grey by default). Each bar keeps the style it was drawn in; see indicator states.

Bands are context, not trade calls. An arrow on the price chart marks where the line you read crossed outside its band; it is not an instruction to buy or sell, and it is not a prediction. See price-chart markers.

Whose band it is

There is one band pair in Flow mode, and it always belongs to one line: the core line. It is sized from that line's own variability, so a 3σ cross means the same thing whichever line you choose. A band is never borrowed from another line and is never drawn for a line you have hidden.

Resistance / Support in the other line modes

The Buy / Sell line mode draws its own Resistance and Support lines around the two plotted lines: their mean over the lookback, plus and minus the same number of standard deviations. Resistance and Support lines are always drawn; there is no option to switch them off.

Calibrating the parameters

Three settings shape every line, every band, the σ readout and the alerts:

These parameters can be changed, but changing them changes what counts as a strong reading. The defaults are a starting point, not a recommendation for your market. Instruments differ in pace and book depth, so adjust the depth and band settings to suit the market you trade. If you change them, calibrate: watch how the σ readout and the band behave on your instrument before relying on the new values. To restore the defaults, tick Reset To Default Parameters and click Update. When you open the settings again, the settings show their defaults and Reset To Default Parameters is unticked. In MotiveWave the S/R Standard Deviations move in steps of 0.1 (so 2.5 is allowed) and the Lookback Multiplier in steps of 0.5.

Changing the S/R Lookback Multiplier empties the bands, so they warm up again over the new lookback: the console tile starts again at WARMING UP 0% with -- on every badge, and the flow lines on the chart carry on. The tile gives the band's lookback in whole minutes (5.5 × 5 minutes shows as 28 min band). Changing the S/R Standard Deviations applies at once, from the bar being drawn; bars already drawn keep the band they had, and the band joins the old width to the new one.

Next: Placement Flow & the core line