INDICATOR MANUAL
Wolfe Wave indicatorAuto Wolfe Waves [AFD] · full manual · published to TradingView
See the Wolfe Waves this chart’s own confirmed pivots form, find the bar each one became visible, and follow its Entry, Stop and levels to the ending.
Start here
What the indicator does, the questions it can help answer, and its fresh-install defaults.
A Wolfe Wave is five alternating swing pivots. For a conventionally bullish wave, points 1, 3 and 5 are lows. The script finds pivots with Swing strength bars on each side and reads the newest as point 5.
Five rules are checked, in order: point 3 lies beyond point 1; point 4 lies beyond point 1 on the reversal side; the 1–3 and 2–4 lines narrow toward an apex that has not been reached by point 5; point 5 is on or beyond the extended 1–3 line; and point 5 is no more than 1 ATR past that line. A wave is drawn only when all five pass.
Longer swing waves adds an independent layer at the effective main strength times Longer swing multiple. It is off by default; the multiple defaults to 3, with a range of 2 to 4, so Day at 3 uses strength 15. Each layer uses the same Entry window, 14-bar volatility window and geometric rules. This is not a higher-timeframe request.
The 1–4 line is drawn as a reference. It carries no event, mark or price, and nothing is measured against it.
Entry is the first eligible confirmed close inside the extended 1–3 line within the Entry window, counted from the admission bar. Closes before admission are ignored, and Entry can be set on the admission bar itself. A close that has already crossed the 2–4 line ends the wave with no Entry.
Stop sits 0.10 ATR beyond point 5, at least 0.50 ATR from Entry. R is the distance from Entry to Stop. T1–T3 are Entry plus the configured multiples of R for bullish waves, minus for bearish waves, rounded outward and at least one tick beyond the previous level. They are nominal multiples: a coarse tick can widen the actual distance, so Entry 100, Stop 99 and tick 1 give 101, 102 and 103 at the default 0.5, 0.75 and 1.0.
A pivot is confirmed only once the layer’s effective Swing strength further bars have printed, and detection checks the count on that confirmed bar, after point 5’s original bar. The wave is late by construction; that is the cost of using only settled pivots. Longer-layer confirmation waits the multiplied strength, up to 120 bars at Custom 30 × 4.
Fresh-install defaults10 documented defaults
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| Area | Default | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Preset | Day | Swing strength 5 and an Entry window of 10 bars. Scalp is 3 and 5, Swing is 8 and 15, and Custom hands both to the inputs below it. |
| Direction | Both | Bullish and bearish waves are found and drawn, developing ones included. |
| Allow one skipped swing per leg | on | A leg may step over one smaller swing inside it. Counts with the fewest skips are tried first. |
| Longer swing waves / Longer swing multiple | off / 3 | Adds an independent layer at main strength × 2–4 on this timeframe. The multiple is inactive while the layer is off. |
| Once reached | Clear | Definitively reached tiers lose their color and leave the shared tag; Keep retains all tiers with reached marks. Order-unknown tiers stay shown. |
| Show Entry, Stop and levels | on | Entry, Stop and T1–T3 are drawn with zones and tags. Off hides them on the chart; the panel and alerts still list them. |
| T1 / T2 / T3 (R) | 0.5 / 0.75 / 1.0 | Multiples of R. They must rise from T1 to T3, or only Entry and Stop are built. |
| Show developing waves / Ended waves kept | on / 2 | Developing waves are drawn dashed. Two ended waves from both layers combined stay on the chart. |
| Panel / Panel position / Text size | on / Auto / Small | The newest three waves from both layers combined in one table: bottom left after a conventionally bullish wave, top right otherwise. |
| Alert events / Detail | All events / Brief | Formed, Entry, each level reached and each ending, in the short text form. |
How it works
How the indicator turns chart data into the states and drawings you see.
Pivots, strictly confirmed
A tie on the left of a pivot still counts; a tie on the right does not, so a flat top gives one pivot, on its rightmost bar. A same-side pivot replaces the newest one when it is at least as extreme.
Counts are tried in a fixed order
With Allow one skipped swing per leg on, each leg may step over one smaller swing. A skipped swing must lie inside its leg, and no counter-swing may exceed 0.382 of the leg. The count with the fewest skipped pivots is tried first. The order is structural and does not rank waves.
Independent layers
Each layer owns its pivot chain, its recent admitted and refused keys, its developing selection and four live slots, so the same core can appear once in each layer. Existing waves step before new counts, and main admission precedes longer admission on the same bar. Longer point-5, level and developing tags, hovers, panel headers and dynamic messages name the layer. Longer geometry strokes are one step wider, capped at 4; dotted and dashed styles and ending fades keep their meaning.
One wave per 2-3-4 core in each layer
Another point-1 count on the same points 2, 3 and 4 is the same wave. So is a more extreme point 5 that replaces the first.
Up to four live waves per layer
A wave that completes while four in its layer are live is skipped, not queued, and the panel counts each core skipped at least once. A later re-completion after a slot frees can admit that core without reducing the count. Detection keeps only pivots within 500 bars of admission, which is separate from the 4,500-bar reach of retained drawings.
Remaining tiers
With Once reached set to Clear, only definitively reached T lines and zones become transparent. The shared tag drops those names and moves to the first remaining tier, and once every tier is reached it is blank. An order-unknown tier stays labeled and visible. Keep retains every tier with its ✓ or order-unknown mark and a stronger reached surface. Entry and Stop, the panel records and the alert events are the same under both.
Opaque tag backing
Level tags are backed with an opaque chart-background composite, so candles do not show through them, and they stay at printed-bar positions. There is no general collision layout: different waves’ tags can still collide, a kept ended wave’s tags can cover later candles at their position, and text can clip at the viewport edge.
Levels are frozen at Entry
ATR is the 14-bar simple mean of true range read when the wave formed, and it is never re-read. A level counts as traded within half a tick. The Entry bar itself is never tracked.
A wave ends once
In order of precedence: traded beyond point 5 before Entry; closed past the 2–4 line before Entry; no close inside the 1–3 line within the Entry window; order unknown, when one bar traded both the Stop and a level not traded before; otherwise the Stop reached; otherwise T3 reached; and aged out, as many bars after Entry as points 1 to 5 took to form. An ended wave is cut on its ending bar, faded, and kept up to the shared Ended waves kept allowance.
Wave colors
Bullish and Bearish, and a separate Beyond point 5 color for beyond-point-5, Stop and order-unknown endings. The State cell distinguishes the ending reasons.
The panel and the Data Window
Each column’s header names the direction, Conventionally Bullish or Conventionally Bearish, and its hover lists the five points; a longer-layer header is prefixed Longer. Every price cell’s hover gives the level’s formula and R. The newest wave from either layer also supplies the Data Window, which carries two values and no price: Direction, 1 for conventionally bullish and -1 for conventionally bearish, and State, 1 waiting, 2 Entry set and 3 ended.
Output and state reference9 documented states
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| Output or state | When it appears | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Waiting | A wave formed | No close back inside the 1–3 line yet. The level rows read —. |
| Entry set | A close came back inside the 1–3 line, not already past the 2–4 line | Entry, Stop and T1–T3 are frozen and tracked. A level a bar traded to reads reached; Clear removes definitively reached tiers from the shared tag, and Keep retains them with ✓ marks. |
| Ended · beyond point 5 | A bar traded beyond point 5 before Entry | The wave ended with no Entry. |
| Ended · past 2–4 line | The first close inside the 1–3 line was already past the 2–4 line | The close crossed the whole wedge, so no Entry was set. |
| Ended · no Entry | The Entry window ran out | No Entry was set. |
| Ended · Stop reached | A bar traded to the Stop | Tracking ended. |
| Ended · T3 reached | A bar traded to T3 | Tracking ended. |
| Ended · order unknown | One bar traded both the Stop and a level not traded before | The order inside that bar cannot be known from bar data, so neither is claimed. |
| Ended · aged out | As many bars after Entry as the wave took to form | Tracking ended. |
Settings
All 33 inputs are listed below in their six source groups. Tooltips explain the detection, lifecycle and display settings. A greyed-out control is inactive because the setting that governs it is off, or its preset is not Custom.
Detection7 inputs
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| Setting | Control | Default | Choices, limits & availability |
|---|---|---|---|
| PresetpresetInput | Choice / text | Day | Scalp · Day · Swing · Custom |
| DirectiondirectionInput | Choice / text | Both | Both · Bullish only · Bearish only |
| Swing strengthswingCustomInput | Whole number | 5 | Min 2 · Max 30 | Conditional |
| Entry window (bars)windowCustomInput | Whole number | 10 | Min 1 · Max 50 | Conditional |
| Allow one skipped swing per legskipInput | Toggle | On | — |
| Longer swing waveslongerInput | Toggle | Off | — |
| Longer swing multiplemultipleInput | Whole number | 3 | Min 2 · Max 4 | Conditional |
Trade levels7 inputs
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| Setting | Control | Default | Choices, limits & availability |
|---|---|---|---|
| Show Entry, Stop and levelslevelsInput | Toggle | On | — |
| Once reachedonCloseInput | Choice / text | Clear | Clear · Keep | Conditional |
| T1 (R)t1Input | Decimal | 0.5 | Min 0.1 · Max 10.0 · Step 0.05 |
| T2 (R)t2Input | Decimal | 0.75 | Min 0.1 · Max 10.0 · Step 0.05 |
| T3 (R)t3Input | Decimal | 1.0 | Min 0.1 · Max 10.0 · Step 0.05 |
| T level colourtargetColorInput | Color | #8C66FF | Conditional |
| Stop colourstopColorInput | Color | #D9453D | Conditional |
Waves2 inputs
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| Setting | Control | Default | Choices, limits & availability |
|---|---|---|---|
| Show developing wavesformingInput | Toggle | On | — |
| Ended waves keptkeptInput | Whole number | 2 | Min 0 · Max 5 |
Lines and fill11 inputs
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| Setting | Control | Default | Choices, limits & availability |
|---|---|---|---|
| BullishbullInput | Color | #26A69A | — |
| BearishbearInput | Color | #EF5350 | — |
| Beyond point 5brokenInput | Color | #787B86 | — |
| ZigzagwidthInput | Whole number | 2 | Min 1 · Max 4 |
| Zigzag stylezigzagStyleInput | Choice / text | Solid | Solid · Dashed · Dotted |
| 1–3 and 2–4 linesguideWidthInput | Whole number | 1 | Min 1 · Max 4 |
| 1–3 and 2–4 line styleguideStyleInput | Choice / text | Solid | Solid · Dashed · Dotted |
| 1–4 linel14WidthInput | Whole number | 1 | Min 1 · Max 4 |
| 1–4 line stylel14StyleInput | Choice / text | Dotted | Solid · Dashed · Dotted |
| Wedge fillfillInput | Toggle | On | — |
| TransparencyfillTranspInput | Whole number | 88 | Min 50 · Max 100 | Conditional |
Display4 inputs
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| Setting | Control | Default | Choices, limits & availability |
|---|---|---|---|
| Point labelspointsInput | Toggle | On | — |
| PanelpanelInput | Toggle | On | — |
| Panel positionpositionInput | Choice / text | Auto | Auto · Top right · Top left · Bottom right · Bottom left |
| Text sizetextSizeInput | Choice / text | Small | Tiny · Small · Normal |
Alerts2 inputs
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| Setting | Control | Default | Choices, limits & availability |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alert eventseventsInput | Choice / text | All events | All events · Formed and Entry · Endings · Off |
| DetaildetailInput | Choice / text | Brief | Brief · Full · JSON |
Alerts and limitations
What can notify you, what can change the output, and what the indicator cannot establish.
Named alert conditions
A Wolfe Wave formed on this confirmed bar.
A Wolfe Wave’s Entry was set on this confirmed bar.
A bar traded to a Wolfe Wave’s T level on this confirmed bar.
A Wolfe Wave ended on this confirmed bar.
Limits to keep visible
- Pivot confirmation needs the layer’s effective Swing strength further bars. Entry adds no further pivot delay: its search starts at admission. A developing count uses confirmed points 1–4.
- The developing band is redrawn on the latest bar and nothing of it is kept. Its ATR is frozen at selection, while admission uses the ATR current then. Intrabar invalidity hides it and a confirmed invalidation clears it. The scoped runs on this build observed Main and Longer admission timing and fixed anchors; they do not establish live intrabar behavior, and no general repainting verdict is claimed either way.
- Up to four waves per layer are live at once. Capacity skips are counted separately by layer, the ended allowance is shared rather than doubled, and the fixed 500-bar horizon can exclude longer counts even with the layer on.
- Tags have opaque backing but no general collision layout, so dense same-price waves can still collide. Dark, white and gradient chart backgrounds were observed; the full application Light theme was not.
- Time symmetry is not checked, nor are Fibonacci ratios or the sweet-zone channel some sources draw. Point 5’s overshoot is bounded by 1 ATR instead.
- Entry, Stop and T1–T3 are chart geometry: user-set multiples of the wave’s own Entry-to-Stop distance. They describe no measured outcome and are not a recommendation to act, and no count of reached levels is kept.
- Standard bars on a time-based timeframe only. Heikin Ashi, Renko, Kagi, Point & Figure, range and tick charts show a notice instead of waves.
- Geometry is linear price only.
- Alert delivery has not been verified on the platform for this build.
Troubleshooting
Start with what you see on the chart. Each answer explains the likely cause and the first setting, timeframe, or data condition to check.
Why is there no wave on my chart?
No five pivots passed all five rules, or Direction hides that side. A smaller Swing strength finds more pivots; it does not relax any rule.
Why did the wave appear so late?
Point 5 needs Swing strength further bars to confirm, and detection checks the count at that confirmed close, after point 5’s original bar.
A wave ended with no levels.
No close came back inside the 1–3 line within the Entry window, the wave traded beyond point 5 first, or the first close inside was already past the 2–4 line. The State cell names which one.
The panel reports capacity skips.
It counts waves skipped while four waves in that layer were live, excluding recently repeated core keys. It is not a count of every possible wave, and a core can later be admitted once a slot frees. Separately, the 500-bar detection horizon excludes older pivots without counting a wave.
Where did T1 go?
With Once reached set to Clear, a definitively reached tier loses its color and leaves the shared tag. Keep retains it. The panel still holds its record.
Why is no Longer wave shown?
The layer must be on, and its own five confirmed pivots must pass the rules within the fixed 500-bar horizon. Its confirmation waits the multiplied strength.
A level shows order unknown.
One bar traded both the Stop and a T level not traded before. Bar data cannot say which came first, so neither is claimed.
Only Entry and Stop appear, with no T levels.
T1 (R), T2 (R) and T3 (R) must rise strictly. The notice says so when they do not.