Wilder’s ATR: True Range Smoothed with Wilder’s Moving Average

Summary

This document describes an implementation of John Welles Wilder Jr.’s Average True Range (ATR), a technical indicator for measuring price movement. It distinguishes this version from a common platform implementation by using Wilder’s smoothed moving average (SMMA) instead of a simple moving average, and by setting the default period to 7, following the cited description of Wilder’s method.

The document gives implementation details rather than a trading strategy or performance analysis. It notes that conditional compilation supports both MQL4 and MQL5. It provides no worked calculations, market examples, tests, or evidence that this version produces better signals. The stated period is a default, not a universal recommendation, and the document does not explain how ATR should be interpreted or used in trading. Its useful lesson is the distinction in smoothing and default period between this implementation and the platform’s built-in indicator.

Key ideas

• The implementation calculates ATR using Wilder’s smoothed moving average rather than a simple moving average.
• Its default lookback period is 7, following the cited description of Wilder’s method.
• The code is designed to compile for both MQL4 and MQL5.
• The document describes indicator construction but provides no trading rules or performance evidence.

Tags

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