A reversal bar prints only when the market actually changes its mind.
It is constantly confused with Renko, including by products that should know better. The difference is one sentence, and it changes what the chart means.
Reversal bars versus Renko — the one-line difference
The trigger is set from the previous brick’s close and never moves. Price must travel a fixed distance from that anchor. A Renko’s “reversal” setting is still distance-from-anchor, just the other way.
The trigger trails the bar’s own extreme. Push the high up and the close-the-bar level rises with it. The bar ends only when price gives back the reversal amount from the best level reached.
The practical effect: a 200-tick run becomes about fifty identical Renko bricks, or one reversal bar.
Which means the chart means something different
Worth knowing before you switch
Because a reversal bar holds an entire move, you will have far fewer bars than on a Renko or range chart of comparable sensitivity. That is the point, but it has consequences: indicators with a lookback period see much more market history per bar, so a 14-period average here is not remotely the same window as a 14-period average on a 4-tick Renko. Re-tune rather than porting settings across.
Settings
| Setting | Default | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Reversal (ticks, 1 = auto) | 1 | How far price must pull back from the bar’s extreme to close it. Auto measures the instrument. |
| Minimum bar size (ticks, 0 = none) | 0 | Optional floor, so a tiny wobble cannot close a bar. |
| Open Offset (ticks, 0 = honest) | 0 | Cosmetic offset for the drawn open. |
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Common questions
Is UniRenko a reversal bar?
No. UniRenko is a Renko with a decoupled reversal distance — its boundaries are computed once from the previous brick’s close and never move while the bar develops. That is distance-based, not pullback-based. It is a good Renko; it is not a reversal bar.
Are these the same as momentum bars?
Broadly yes — “momentum bars” and “reversal bars” are usually two names for the same idea: a bar that runs until price retraces a set amount. Terminology varies by platform, which is part of why the confusion with Renko persists.
What reversal amount should I use?
Start on auto. It aims for roughly six legs across the first 90 minutes of market data — deliberately fewer than a Renko would produce, because a reversal bar is meant to hold a whole move and sizing it like a brick gives you a bar per wiggle, throwing away the only property that makes the type worth having.
Does the current bar repaint?
The forming bar is not final until price pulls back enough to close it, so yes, like any bar type that is not time-based. Use the included chart style to mark it.
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Provided free by Affordable Indicators, Inc. Nothing here is trading advice. Derived bar types hide time, and the bar currently forming is never final until it completes — understand both before trading from them. Not affiliated with NinjaTrader. All product and company names are the trademarks of their respective owners.