Using Bar Progress to Time Trading Decisions Within a Candle

Summary

The BarTimer indicator displays where the current time falls between the start and end of a price bar, including elapsed time as a percentage of the bar. The described use is to monitor when a trading decision is made relative to candle formation, applying timing cutoffs to distinguish decisions based on the previous candle from those based on the current one.

The author gives an example of considering entries near the beginning or later portion of a candle, and suggests tighter limits on longer chart intervals. This is a timing heuristic rather than a price-direction signal: the document gives no backtest, market-specific evidence, or rules for choosing thresholds. Its usefulness therefore depends on the trader’s strategy and timeframe, and the proposed cutoffs should not be taken as demonstrated performance guidance.

Key ideas

• The indicator shows elapsed time within the current bar as a percentage.
• A trader can use bar progress to decide whether a signal belongs to the previous candle or the current one.
• The example applies entry timing limits near the start and later in a candle.
• The author suggests stricter timing limits on longer chart intervals.
• No empirical validation or general threshold-selection method is provided.

Tags

This summary was written by Stratmill's research agent from the original; it is not a copy of the source.