Rectangle / Range

Price oscillating between a roughly horizontal support and resistance — a mean-reversion structure. A bounce off support → +1; a rejection at resistance → -1.

Quick reference

Item	Value
Family	Chart Patterns
Input type	Candle (uses high, low)
Output type	f64 (+1 / -1 / 0)
Output range	{-1.0, 0.0, +1.0}
Default parameters	none (swing threshold 5%, level tolerance 3%, baked)
Warmup period	5
Interpretation	Range-trade / mean-reversion off the touched boundary

Formula

from the last four pivots derive (high_old, high_new, low_old, low_new):
  flat highs (resistance) AND flat lows (support), each within ±3%:
    last pivot a low  → +1  (bounce off support)
    last pivot a high → -1  (rejection at resistance)
otherwise → 0

Unlike the breakout patterns the rectangle is range-bound, so the sign encodes the actionable mean-reversion direction of the just-confirmed touch. See crates/wickra-core/src/indicators/rectangle_range.rs.

Parameters

None. Swing threshold 0.05 and level tolerance 0.03 are baked-in family constants (pattern_swing.rs). RectangleRange::new is infallible.

Inputs / Outputs

const _: fn(&mut wickra::RectangleRange, wickra::Candle) -> Option<f64> =
    <wickra::RectangleRange as wickra::Indicator>::update;

• Python. update((o,h,l,c,v,ts)) → float (never None); batch(open, high, low, close) → 1-D ndarray.
• Node. update(open, high, low, close) → number; batch(open, high, low, close) → number[].
• WASM. update(open, high, low, close) → number.

Warmup

warmup_period() == 5. Four confirmed pivots are required; the earliest bar that can confirm a fourth pivot is the fifth. Pinned by test accessors_and_metadata.

Edge cases

• Bounce off support reports +1 (test range_bounce_off_support_is_plus_one).
• Rejection at resistance reports -1 (test range_rejection_at_resistance_is_minus_one).
• Trending highs (no flat resistance) report 0.0 (test trending_highs_are_not_a_rectangle).
• reset clears state (test reset_clears_state).
• Streaming equals batch (test batch_equals_streaming).

Examples

Rust

use wickra::{Candle, Indicator, RectangleRange};

fn main() -> Result<(), Box<dyn std::error::Error>> {
    // Flat highs (120, 121), flat lows (100, 99); last pivot a low → +1.
    let bars = [
        (119.88, 120.0, 119.88, 119.88),
        (100.0, 118.8, 100.0, 100.0),
        (101.0, 121.0, 101.0, 101.0),
        (99.0, 119.79, 99.0, 99.0),
        (99.99, 108.9, 99.99, 99.99),
    ];
    let mut pat = RectangleRange::new();
    let mut last = 0.0;
    for (ts, (o, h, l, c)) in bars.iter().enumerate() {
        last = pat.update(Candle::new(*o, *h, *l, *c, 1.0, ts as i64)?).unwrap();
    }
    println!("{last}"); // 1
    Ok(())
}

Python

import wickra as ta

bars = [
    (119.88, 120.0, 119.88, 119.88, 1.0, 0),
    (100.0, 118.8, 100.0, 100.0, 1.0, 1),
    (101.0, 121.0, 101.0, 101.0, 1.0, 2),
    (99.0, 119.79, 99.0, 99.0, 1.0, 3),
    (99.99, 108.9, 99.99, 99.99, 1.0, 4),
]
pat = ta.RectangleRange()
print([pat.update(b) for b in bars][-1])  # 1.0

Node

const wickra = require('wickra');
const bars = [
  [119.88, 120.0, 119.88, 119.88], [100.0, 118.8, 100.0, 100.0],
  [101.0, 121.0, 101.0, 101.0], [99.0, 119.79, 99.0, 99.0],
  [99.99, 108.9, 99.99, 99.99],
];
const pat = new wickra.RectangleRange();
let last = 0;
for (const [o, h, l, c] of bars) last = pat.update(o, h, l, c);
console.log(last); // 1

Streaming

pat = ta.RectangleRange()
for o, h, l, c, v, ts in candle_feed:
    signal = pat.update((o, h, l, c, v, ts))
    if signal > 0:
        pass  # touched support inside a range — fade long
    elif signal < 0:
        pass  # touched resistance inside a range — fade short

Interpretation

1. Mean reversion, not breakout. The sign points back into the range from the just-touched boundary. When the range eventually breaks, expect the detector to stop firing (the highs or lows are no longer flat).
2. Boundary quality. Tighter flat highs/lows (well within tolerance) mark a cleaner range and a more reliable fade.

Common pitfalls

• Breakout blindness. This detector does not signal the breakout itself — it signals range touches; pair it with a breakout/trend detector for the exit.
• Overlap with triple top/bottom. A rectangle with three touches resembles a triple pattern; both detectors may fire on the same structure.

See also

• Triangle — converging (non-parallel) range.
• TripleTopBottom — three rejections at one level.
• Indicators-Overview — full taxonomy.