Squeeze Momentum and Level (SQZMOM)

Summary

John Carter's TTM Squeeze, in the form LazyBear published on TradingView in 2014. Volatility compression is read by comparing the Bollinger Bands against a Keltner Channel: when the bands sit inside the channel the market is coiled, and when they push outside it the coil has released. LazyBear replaced Carter's simple momentum with a linear regression of the close against a Donchian/SMA anchor, which is the histogram that StockCharts, ta4j and trading-signals compute, and pandas-ta with lazybear=True.

"Squeeze Pro" tests the bands against three Keltner widths instead of one, so compression becomes a level rather than a boolean. outSqueeze carries that level: 3, 2 and 1 for the narrow, normal and wide channels, -1 once the bands are outside the wide channel, and 0 in between. The classic squeeze-on flag is outSqueeze >= 2, and with wide == normal the three states are exactly LazyBear's on / off / none.

Formula

With b = optInBBPeriod and k = optInKCPeriod:

BBU, BBL = SMA(close, b) +/- optInNbDev * STDDEV(close, b)
KCM      = SMA(close, k)
BAND     = SMA(TRANGE(high, low, close), k)
DMID     = MIDPRICE(high, low, k)
DEV      = close - ( DMID + KCM ) / 2

outMomentum = LINEARREG(DEV, k)

inside(m)  = BBL > KCM - m*BAND  and  BBU < KCM + m*BAND

outSqueeze =  3  if inside(optInFactorNarrow)
              2  if inside(optInFactorNormal)
              1  if inside(optInFactorWide)
             -1  if BBL < KCM - optInFactorWide*BAND and BBU > KCM + optInFactorWide*BAND
              0  otherwise

Notes

BAND is the simple mean of the true range over k bars, not an ATR: no Wilder smoothing, and so no unstable period anywhere in this function.
The anchor is written three ways across the sources — avg(avg(HH,LL), SMA), ((HH+LL)/2 + SMA)/2 and 0.25*(HH+LL) + 0.5*SMA. All three give the same double, because scaling by a power of two is exact.
The three channels share a centre and BAND >= 0, so they nest: inside the narrow one implies inside the normal one implies inside the wide one. The ordinal is therefore monotone, and the factors are required only to be ordered wide >= normal >= narrow >= 0, not strictly. Factors out of that order are rejected with TA_BAD_PARAM.
The momentum window is the Keltner period, as in LazyBear's script, pandas and trading-signals.
The three chains that feed the outputs do not reach their first value together. The first output bar is the latest of them, so where b is much larger than k the momentum exists before the state does and is still withheld until both do. pandas emits the earlier momentum; a capture compared against it must start at the later bar.

Inputs

inHigh — High price of each bar
inLow — Low price of each bar
inClose — Closing price of each bar

Outputs

outMomentum — Linear regression of the close against the Donchian/SMA anchor
outSqueeze — Compression level: 3 narrow, 2 normal, 1 wide, -1 released, 0 otherwise

Parameters

Parameter	Type	Default	Accepted values	Description
`optInBBPeriod`	integer	20	2–100000	Number of bars in the Bollinger Band window
`optInNbDev`	real	2	≥ 0	Number of standard deviations the Bollinger Bands are placed at
`optInKCPeriod`	integer	20	2–100000	Number of bars in the Keltner Channel, the true-range mean and the regression
`optInFactorWide`	real	2	≥ 0	Keltner width, in true-range means, of the widest channel
`optInFactorNormal`	real	1.5	≥ 0	Keltner width of the classic channel
`optInFactorNarrow`	real	1	≥ 0	Keltner width of the tightest channel

Properties

Numerical Stability: Start-Independent


☐ Overlap Input
✅ Independent Y-Axis i
☐ Candlestick
☐ Can Output NaN or ±Inf
☐ Identity at Period 1
☐ Display Shift
☐ Uses Transcendental
☐ Input Must Be Positive

Implementation

TA-Lib Definition: sqzmom.c · sqzmom.yaml

Native	File
C	`ta_SQZMOM.c`
Rust	`sqzmom.rs`
Java	`Core_SQZMOM.java`
C#	`Core_SQZMOM.cs`

TA-Lib is also available for Python, R and more using a wrapper.

Aliases

Squeeze Momentum, TTM Squeeze, TTM Squeeze Pro, SQZMOM_LB

References

John F. Carter, Mastering the Trade, McGraw-Hill, 2005, chapter 11
LazyBear, "Squeeze Momentum Indicator [LazyBear]", TradingView, 2014-07-04
Beardy_Fred, "TTM Squeeze Pro", TradingView, 2021