What is a "normal" ATR?

There is no universal number — it depends entirely on the coin. Compare a coin against its own history and against the market: 1% per candle is wild for BTC and quiet for a small-cap.

Does high ATR mean a move is coming?

It means moves are already large. Volatility clusters, so a violent period tends to continue — but the direction is a separate question ATR does not answer.

How do I use ATR for a stop?

Put the stop outside the coin's ordinary movement, not at a round number. If ATR is 2%, a stop at 1% will be hit by noise regardless of whether the idea was right.

What is ATR?

The average distance price travels in one candle, including gaps. A measure of how much this coin moves — not which way.

Updated September 4, 2026

What "true" adds to "range"

The obvious measure of a candle is high minus low. True range adds the gap: if price opened far from the previous close, that jump is part of the distance travelled even though no candle body covers it.

ATR is then the average of that over N candles, usually 14. One number answering "how far does this thing typically move in a candle".

Percent of price is the comparable number

Raw ATR is in dollars, which makes coins incomparable: $40 on a $70,000 coin is calm, $40 on a $200 coin is chaos. The terminal shows ATR relative to price for that reason.

As a percentage it becomes a coin-independent measure of temperament — you can rank the whole market by how violently each coin moves and compare today against its own past.

Where it earns its keep: stop distance

A stop closer than the coin's ordinary noise gets hit by ordinary noise. ATR turns that from a feeling into a number: if the coin routinely covers 3% per candle, a 1% stop is a coin flip.

The same arithmetic decides leverage. Liquidation sitting inside one ATR of the entry means an average candle can end the position while the idea is still intact.

It says nothing about direction

A high ATR means large moves, and large moves happen in both directions. Rising volatility is not bullish or bearish; it is a statement about the size of what is coming, not its sign.

The useful reading is regime: volatility clusters, so a calm coin tends to stay calm and a violent one violent — until it changes, and those changes tend to precede the moves worth trading.

Common questions

What is a "normal" ATR?: There is no universal number — it depends entirely on the coin. Compare a coin against its own history and against the market: 1% per candle is wild for BTC and quiet for a small-cap.
Does high ATR mean a move is coming?: It means moves are already large. Volatility clusters, so a violent period tends to continue — but the direction is a separate question ATR does not answer.
How do I use ATR for a stop?: Put the stop outside the coin's ordinary movement, not at a round number. If ATR is 2%, a stop at 1% will be hit by noise regardless of whether the idea was right.