Bull Bear Power (BBPower) on Gold

What it shows

Columns rise and drop around a zero line below the candles. Their height is in dollars of gold, not a score, so there is no cap; a taller column is a candle that sat further from its 13-candle EMA.

How Pravex works it out

1. Work out an EMA of the close over 13 candles. The first value is the simple average of the first 13 closes, then each new candle moves it by a weight of 2 ÷ 14.
2. Bull part = high − EMA: how far the high rose above the average, negative if it stayed below.
3. Bear part = low − EMA: how far the low is from the average, negative when the low is under it.
4. BBPower = bull part + bear part = (high − EMA) + (low − EMA).
5. A sum on paper, not market data: with an EMA of 100, a high of 103 and a low of 98, the value is (+3) + (−2) = +1.

Settings

Setting	Default	What changing it does
Length	13	The span of the close EMA that the high and low are measured from. A shorter average hugs price, so the columns stay close to zero; a longer one lets them grow when price pulls away.

How traders read it

A column above zero says the candle’s high and low together sat above the average. A column below zero says the opposite. A run of growing columns is a push away from the average.

Columns that shrink while gold keeps making higher highs say each new candle is pulling less far from the average. That loss of stretch often comes before a pause.

Zero is the only guide line. Because the unit is price, a tall column on one timeframe or day says nothing about a tall one on another, so judge height against the last stretch of the same pane.

When it misleads

The reading depends wholly on the EMA, so a sharp move drags the average along and the columns shrink even though price has not stopped. Because the unit is price, the pane cannot compare gold in different years or on different timeframes. In calm stretches the candles are small, so the columns hug zero there. Gold has no weekend candles: after the weekend gap, the first candles of the week sit far from an EMA that still carries Friday’s level.

Questions and answers

Can Bull Bear Power be positive in a downtrend?

Yes. During a bounce the candle’s high and low can both pop above a falling EMA, and the column turns positive for a few candles before the trend resumes.

Why is the default EMA 13 candles?

Thirteen is the length the method was first described with, and Pravex keeps it. A shorter EMA keeps the columns small and quick; a longer one lets them grow as price drifts from a slower average.

Why are there no overbought or oversold lines?

The columns are measured in price and have no fixed range, so a fixed line would mean something different every month. Only zero is drawn.

How is it different from Balance of Power?

Balance of Power compares the candle’s body with its own range. Bull Bear Power compares its high and low with a moving average.

Related: Balance of Power, Elder Force Index, Chande Momentum Oscillator, every indicator.