In this Indicator Spotlight, we’re looking at the Wilder Volatility Stop. The concept was introduced by Welles Wilder in his book, “New Concepts in Technical Trading Systems”. To learn more about the general idea behind Wilder’s Volatility Stop indicator and additional options that come with our version, watch the video or continue reading below:
As with the majority of other trailing stops, it relies on an anchor point which serves as a reference price. Specifically, it adds or subtracts a multiple of the Average True Range (ATR) to the “significant close” in order to calculate the stop.
The Significant Close
You calculate a long stop by subtracting a multiple of the ATR from the “significant close” in the lookback period. Wilder refers to the significant close as “…the extreme favorable close price reached while in a trade”. During a bullish move, the “significant close” is then determined as the highest close since the beginning of the trend.
Furthermore, when used with time based bars, Wilder’s Volatility Stop indicator adjusts to the current market environment. Specifically, it allows for stop widening when volatility increases and tightening when it decreases. This generally makes sense because there’s often a decrease in volatility following a strong price move. However, during consolidation periods (low volatility), the stop will tighten and often prematurely trigger a trend change.
If you do not want a stop widening, the Wilder’s Volatility Stop indicator has an option of activating the traditional trailing stop feature. When activated, stop will only move in the direction of the position.
Conversely, the short stop is calculated by adding a multiple of the ATR to the “significant close”. In a downtrend, you may determine the “significant close” as the lowest close since the start of the trend. Again, when used with time based bars, Wilder’s Volatility Stop indicator adjusts to the current market environment. This allows for stop widening by increasing volatility and tightening when it decreases.
The Donchian Anchor
The volatility stop indicator also comes with the option of replacing the “significant close” with a Donchian Anchor. The “Significant Close” then refers to the extreme favorable close within the lookback period, as opposed to the trend start. For a long stop, you will find a multiple of the ATR subtracted from the highest close in the lookback period. By default the indicator applies a ATR multiple of 3 for a 7 bar lookback period.
For a short scenario it adds a 3 multiple of the ATR to the lowest close in the the 7 bar lookback period. As you will see in the below scenario, it continually accommodated the stop countertrend wise, incurring significant losses.
Therefore, you should only use the Donchian Anchor with the trailing stop option activated (widening not allowed). The Donchian Anchor is based on the Donchian Channel indicator.
Testing the Volatility Stop Indicator
We have done some preliminary testing of the following 4 options for the volatility stop indicator:
- Widening stop – based on the significant close since the trend start
- Trailing stop – based on the significant close since the trend start
- Widening stop – based on the significant close in the lookback priod
- Trailing stop – based on the significant close in the lookback priod
(A) The volatility stop indicator does not work well in short timeframes (<60 min.). This is due to the fact that prices deviate significantly from the normal distribution in shorter timeframes, i.e. extreme movements occur frequently. They simply trigger too frequently, resulting in significant losses.
(B) For short timeframes you therefore have to use larger multipliers than in higher timeframes, i.e. a 3.5 to 4.0 multiple of the ATR. Still, you should not be expect a positive outcome. The multiplier proposed by Wilder is meant for use in higher timeframes than 60 minutes, or on daily charts.
(C) For the Wilder Volatility Stop, the stop widening option is preferable allowing for stop adjustments during periods of increasing volatility.
(D) With the Donchian Anchor, it is the other way around. Because it looks at the most favorable close in the lookback period, one should therefore have the trailing stop option activated.
To download the volatility stop indicator for NinjaTrader 8, please follow the below link:
Other Library Indicators
Other than the Wilders Volatility Stop, our NinjaTrader indicators library features the following entries from the trailing stop loss category: ATR Trailing Stop, Chande Kroll Stop, Chandelier Stop, Deviation Stop, HiLo Activator, SuperTrend M11 and the SuperTrend U11. A previous Indicator Spotlight also looked at the ATR Trailing Stop. You may review the Indicator Spotlight issues discussing the Squeeze and the Donchian Channel for examples of trading setups where the volatility stop may be used.
