Bollinger %b (20, 2σ)Volatility

Timeframe M1 · unit ratio

What it measures

The position of the last closing price within its 20-bar Bollinger Band, expressed as a 0-to-1 ratio (0 = lower band, 1 = upper band, 0.5 = middle).

How Janira reads it (bullish vs bearish)

Above 0.8 indicates price is pressing the upper band (statistically stretched). Below 0.2 indicates price near the lower band. Note: bands expand during trending conditions, so a sustained reading near 1.0 can simply mean a strong uptrend, NOT necessarily a reversal zone.

In plain language

Think of Bollinger Bands as a rubber sleeve around the price. %b tells you whether the price is currently near the top of the sleeve (1.0), the bottom (0.0), or floating in the middle (0.5).

Scenarios

%b > 0.9: Price pressing the upper band. In a ranging market this often precedes a reversal; in a trending market it can persist for many bars.
%b 0.45-0.55: Price near the middle band. Neutral positioning, no strong band-based signal.
%b < 0.1: Price pressing the lower band. Historically oversold in ranges; in downtrends it can persist.
%b crossing 0.5 from below: Price recrossing the midline after a lower-band excursion - a configuration sometimes associated with early mean-reversion recovery.

More volatility indicators

ATR % of Price (14)Normalized ATR (14)Bollinger Band Width (20, 2σ)Keltner Channel Position (20, 2×ATR)Donchian Channel Position (20)Close Standard Deviation % (20)Historical Volatility (20 bars, annualised)Chaikin Volatility (10)

Janira computes Bollinger %b (20, 2σ) deterministically from live price action, the same way for every reading - no discretion, no hidden weighting. This page explains the method; it is not a live reading and not advice.