BITCOIN PARABOLIC SAR

What is Bitcoin Parabolic SAR?

Bitcoin Parabolic SAR draws a trailing price reference that changes sides when the candle range crosses it. During an upward phase, the reference sits below prices and moves toward a tracked high. During a downward phase, it sits above prices and moves toward a tracked low. Its changing distance comes from a defined acceleration rule, not from observed orders.The default step is 0.02 and the maximum acceleration is 0.20. The acceleration factor increases as new extremes extend the current phase, up to that cap. When the rule changes sides, the factor resets. This gives SAR memory: the same current candle can produce a different line if the preceding phase and extremes were different.

Read the side of the line first

A close above SAR is above the active trailing reference; a close below is below it. Maketo uses those comparisons for Rising and Falling, with equality Mixed. The label does not measure how large the price move was or how long the current phase has lasted.

Understand what moves the reference

The basic update adds acceleration × (tracked extreme − previous SAR) to the previous SAR. In an upward phase the extreme is the highest high reached during that phase. In a downward phase it is the lowest low. A new extreme increases the factor by the configured step, subject to the maximum.

Recognize the extra range rules

The simple update is constrained by recent candle ranges so the reference does not move through their nearby lows or highs. When the current range crosses the active reference, the phase changes and the line is reset using the prior extreme and relevant candle bounds. A wick can cause this change even if the close later moves back.

How Parabolic SAR is calculated

Each step moves the prior marker toward the running price extreme using an acceleration factor. Defaults start at 0.02, increase with new extremes and cap at 0.2. The page is published on Parabolic SAR, maximum 0.2, step 0.02. A period counts candles at the interval you choose, so the same setting covers a different stretch of time on a one-hour chart than on a daily one. How smoothing and missing candles are handled.

A calculation you can follow

This invented update assumes an established upward phase and no range constraint that would alter the candidate. Suppose the prior SAR is $90,000, the tracked highest high is $100,000, and the current acceleration factor is 0.04.The gap to the extreme is $10,000. Multiply by 0.04 to get a $400 step; the candidate next reference is $90,400.If the recent lows used by the constraint are $93,000 and $94,000, the candidate remains below both, so they do not reduce it.If a later new extreme lifts the acceleration factor to 0.06, the next update uses that larger factor. If the candle range instead crosses the active reference, the reset rule applies rather than continuing the same arithmetic.The acceleration setting controls movement toward a changing reference extreme. A value of 0.04 is not a 4% distance below Bitcoin’s price.

Step 0.02

The step is the initial acceleration and the increment applied when the current phase extends to a new extreme. A larger step generally makes the reference approach that extreme more quickly, increasing the chance that ordinary back-and-forth movement changes its side.

Maximum 0.20

The maximum caps the acceleration factor, not the dollar gap or number of candles in a phase. The step must be positive and no larger than this maximum. A higher cap allows later updates in an extended phase to react more strongly.

Starting history and timeframe

Maketo uses the first two candles to establish the initial phase and reference, with the first output on the second candle. The subsequent path depends on later extremes and resets. Higher-timeframe candles have different highs and lows, so aggregating candles can change when the reference changes sides.

Alternating ranges can produce repeated side changes

When price moves back and forth through a narrow area, the trailing reference can switch repeatedly. Those switches describe the formula’s response to recent ranges. They do not establish that each short phase was a durable trend.

A line is not an executed order

SAR is a calculated chart value. It does not show an actual order, an available trading price, or whether an order could have been filled at that level. A candle that crosses the line only establishes that its recorded range reached it.

Check initialization before comparing platforms

Initial direction, extreme selection, acceleration updates, equality handling and range constraints can produce differences between implementations. Matching 0.02/0.20 alone does not prove the same numerical conventions or starting candle were used.

Parabolic SAR compared with Supertrend

Supertrend builds its trailing references from average candle ranges and a multiplier. SAR moves toward phase extremes with an increasing acceleration factor. Their side changes can differ because they measure and update their reference distances differently. Open Bitcoin Supertrend.

Can a wick change SAR’s side?

Yes. The side-change rule checks candle highs and lows against the reference. It is not limited to closing-price crossings.

Does the acceleration factor measure trend strength?

It is an internal update weight that rises when the current phase reaches new extremes. It is not a separately normalized strength measurement like ADX.