Donchian Channels
Donchian Channels plot the highest high and lowest low over a lookback period, framing price between its recent extremes. This article explains their simple construction, how a push to the upper band marks an N-period breakout (the basis of the famous Turtle trend-following system), how the lower band and midline serve as trailing stops and bias, how they differ from volatility bands like Bollinger and Keltner, and their strength in trends and weakness in ranges.
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Keltner Channels
Keltner Channels are volatility bands built around a moving average using the Average True Range. This article explains their construction (an EMA with ATR-multiple bands), how they differ from Bollinger Bands (ATR vs standard deviation), how to read them for trend, pullbacks and breakouts, and the famous 'squeeze' where Bollinger Bands contract inside the Keltner Channels to signal a coming volatility expansion.
Bollinger Bands
Bollinger Bands wrap a moving average in an envelope set a number of standard deviations above and below it, so the bands widen when volatility rises and contract when it falls. This article explains how the bands are built, what the width tells you (the 'squeeze' and expansion), why touching a band is not overbought or oversold, and how the bands describe volatility and relative price — never predict direction. It is explicit that 'walking the band' is normal in strong trends.
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