Donchian Channel
Highest-high / lowest-low channel — breakouts.
What it is
Highest-high / lowest-low channel — breakouts.
The Donchian channel, named for Richard Donchian, plots the highest high and lowest low over the last N bars as two horizontal envelopes around price. The midline is the average of the two. The 20-bar Donchian breakout was the entry rule for the original Turtle Trading system in the 1980s.
Reads: price closing above the upper channel = N-bar high breakout (long signal). Price closing below the lower channel = N-bar low (short signal). The channel itself acts as a trailing stop for breakout trades.
Unlike Bollinger Bands, Donchian channels do not use any statistical assumption — they are just the rolling max / min. They are the canonical implementation of a 'breakout above prior range' trading rule.
Upper = max(high, N) Lower = min(low, N) Mid = (Upper + Lower) / 2
Live chart
TradingView has no built-in study for this indicator, so there's no live chart to embed here. It's a structure / smart-money tool — the best way to see it is to run it inside a strategy and backtest it.
Parameters
| Parameter | Default | Range |
|---|---|---|
| Period | 20 | 2 – 500 |
Output fields
The named values this indicator exposes to your entry and exit rules.
Backtest this indicator
Drop this indicator into a rule-set, run it over years of BTC/USDT data, and see whether the edge is real or just curve-fit — no credit card required.