LINK Daily Wide-Range-Bar Volatility-Burst Long with 200-SMA Bull Regime Filter

A long-only single-instrument VOLATILITY-EXPANSION strategy on LINKUSDT perpetual futures using daily bars and OHLCV-only data, with a 200-SMA bull regime filter. The trigger is a 'Wide Range Bar' (WRB) — a single daily bar whose RANGE (high - low) is materially larger than the recent 14-bar average range, AND closes bullishly above the 200-SMA. The Wide Range Bar concept was documented by Toby Crabel in 'Day Trading with Short-Term Price Patterns and Opening Range Breakout' (1990) and remains a robust volatility-expansion signal across asset classes for ~35 years. This mechanism is structurally NOVEL within the portfolio: every existing candlestick strategy (Hammer, Engulfing, Morning Star, Three White Soldiers, Pivot Low) measures BODY/SHADOW or POSITIONAL geometry; WRB is the only pattern that measures TOTAL BAR RANGE relative to the recent volatility regime. WRB is fundamentally distinct: it's a volatility-EXPANSION signal (opposite of Inside Day compression which I've previously proposed for SOL — that was structurally compression, this is structurally expansion). Crabel's empirical research showed that bullish WRBs in established uptrends signal MOMENTUM INITIATION (not reversal): the wide-range bar represents fresh capital flow entering the market with conviction, AND the bullish close confirms buyers maintained control through the entire session. The economic mechanism: when LINK produces a bar with range 1.5× normal AND closes bullishly, this typically reflects (a) catalyst-driven flow (oracle-protocol news, integration announcements, broader DeFi-cycle catalysts), (b) systematic momentum traders entering at scale, (c) shorts being squeezed across the wide range. LINK is chosen because (a) LINK is now the most UNDERUTILIZED asset in the portfolio (only LinkDailyMultiWeekTrendContinuationLong remains after Hammer Reversal failure — 1 strategy vs 2-3 for every other tracked asset), (b) LINK daily futures data path is empirically reliable (Sharpe 2.55 paper-trading promotion), (c) LINK has news-driven catalyst dynamics (oracle-protocol events) that produce textbook WRBs, (d) LINK's higher daily volatility relative to BTC/ETH amplifies the WRB signal-to-noise ratio. Only 3 explicit parameters (regime SMA period, range-multiplier threshold, stop-loss pct) — minimum-parameter pattern strategy.

Implements the hypothesis exactly with a structurally novel trigger: WRB measures TOTAL BAR RANGE relative to the recent volatility regime — distinct from every body/shadow/positional candlestick pattern in the book and the opposite of inside-day compression. Crabel's finding that bullish WRBs in established uptrends signal momentum initiation (not reversal) is encoded by requiring both the bullish close and the SMA(200) regime, so the strategy only fires fresh-flow expansions aligned with trend. The average range is computed over the PRIOR 14 bars (excluding the current bar) so the WRB is judged against the preceding regime rather than diluting its own comparison. Per the prompt's guidance and a hard-won lesson, calculate_signal returns the CONTINUOUS range-to-average ratio every bar and the entry decision is thresholded in should_enter (signal >= range_mult AND bullish AND regime) — verified through the actual Layer-2 proxy (all six scenarios non-frozen, 449 unique signals, no exceptions) and against a constructed WRB (ratio 3.1, bullish, in-regime → BUY; a normal bar at ratio 1.0 → no entry). LINK is the most underutilized tracked asset with a validated daily futures path and news-driven catalyst dynamics that produce textbook WRBs. Long-only matches crypto's directional asymmetry; leverage is 1.0 so sizing references no margin leverage (no inert-leverage gate), and risk-based sizing off the 5% stop gives controlled per-trade risk.

Adequate sample, no edge. Over 60 trades / 6.4 years the strategy is flat-to-losing: profit_factor 0.921, Sharpe -0.166 (CI -2.15 to +1.39), expectancy -86, win_rate 35%, total_return +0.71% (CAGR -1.03%), negative in 4 of 6 years (2022 -5.2%, 2023 -5.8%, 2025 -4.1%), max_consecutive_losses 12. This is a signal-quality failure, not a density or tuning problem: the sample is adequate (at the WF floor), so the 35%-win / sub-1-PF result is a genuine read that the Crabel wide-range-bar 'momentum-initiation' thesis does not hold on LINK daily — a single wide-range bullish bar above the 200-SMA carries no continuation edge over the next ~4 days and gets faded. The payoff is mildly asymmetric (avg_win 2885 vs avg_loss 1686) but at a 35% hit rate nets to negative expectancy, and optimizing the 3 parameters (range_mult, regime_sma, stop) cannot create predictive value from a non-predictive signal; a sub-1-PF base selected over 225 trials would also fail deflated-Sharpe. Do not spend optimization compute. FAILURE PATTERN: single-bar volatility-expansion / range-pattern triggers (wide-range bar, like the inside-bar-cluster and candle-geometry patterns before it) on daily alt majors produce low-win-rate (~35%) signals with no continuation edge — even with a 200-SMA regime filter and an asymmetric payoff, PF stays below 1 and expectancy negative; the wide bullish bar marks exhaustion/whipsaw as often as initiation.