A range (or trading range, consolidation) is a market state where price oscillates between a definable support and resistance without making a sustained directional move. Trends and ranges alternate; most markets spend more time ranging than trending.
Range trading inverts trend-following logic: buy support, sell resistance, fade extremes. The hard part is recognizing when a range is breaking out — a false breakout traps range traders into the wrong side of a developing trend.
Volatility indicators (ATR, Bollinger Band width) tend to contract during ranges and expand at the breakout. Bollinger 'squeezes' and Donchian-channel narrowing are common range-detection heuristics.
How Noon Barbari uses Range
Every concept here is implemented in the platform. Open the relevant docs or tool to see it in action.
Range-trading strategies →Related terms
- Market structure
Support
A price level where falling demand outpaces supply, halting or reversing declines.
- Market structure
Resistance
A price level where rising supply outpaces demand, halting or reversing rallies.
- Indicators
Bollinger Bands
A moving average flanked by ±k standard deviations of price. k = 2 by default.
- Market structure
Trend
A persistent directional drift in price — up, down, or sideways.