One chart. Four practical questions.
Start with context, then read the setup and the current guidance state.
What is the trend doing?
The ribbon combines the Kalman trend state, EMA position relative to Kalman, and KNN slope into developing or full directional agreement.
What qualified on this close?
BREAK, PULL, VECTOR, and MOM each have their own timing rules. Shared location, invalidation-distance, and cooldown checks still apply.
What is in the way?
Confirmed demand and supply identify nearby support and resistance. Room to an opposing zone affects setup qualification.
Is it pending, active, or flat?
The panel separates provisional transitions from active LONG or SHORT guidance. Check the active invalidation reference and hover over event marks.
This script provides visual decision support. It does not place orders or track your brokerage position.
Learn the visual language first.
The default view keeps the combined ribbon visible while its individual component lines stay hidden.
Helios ribbon
A center weighted 50% Kalman, 25% EMA, and 25% KNN. Width reflects uncertainty and component separation; changing ribbon width only changes appearance.
Supply & demand
Orange supply and blue demand come from confirmed pivots. Broken zones can reverse their support or resistance role.
Invalidation
A purple reference marks the active guidance premise. It is evaluated at the candle close and may tighten after another accepted same-side setup.
Three votes describe agreement.
Full alignment requires all three components. Developing alignment has two votes. KNN finds nearby historical price values to smooth price; it is not a trained forecast model.
All three votes favor the bullish side.
Two bullish votes; full agreement has not formed.
All three votes favor the bearish side.
Two bearish votes; full agreement has not formed.
Neither direction has two qualifying votes, or readiness is incomplete.
In the default Helios context mode, color strength reflects agreement, movement, and volume. Opposing candles use quieter pullback colors; compression generally appears gray. Candle color alone does not activate guidance.
Four ways a setup can qualify.
Every family is enabled by default. Qualified BREAK, VECTOR, and PULL setups take priority over MOM.
Price leaves a compressed range.
A close clears the stored compression boundary by a buffer, with sufficient movement surprise, a strong close, and qualifying volume. The default release memory is five bars.
Price returns to trend, then resumes.
An established Kalman trend, a recent touch of its level, and a close back on the trend side combine with movement efficiency, extension, candle, and pullback-volume checks. Compression must be absent.
Directional volume clears recent price.
A qualifying vector candle closes beyond the Kalman level and the prior five-bar high for longs, or low for shorts. It must also meet the movement-surprise and risk checks.
Momentum earns price confirmation.
A MACD cross opens a watch. Expanding MACD, directional RSI, a strong candle beyond the EMA, continuation or reversal price confirmation, volume, room, and chase limits must agree.
Optional M comparison marks show eligible MACD crosses. M+ adds RSI agreement. These marks alone do not change guidance. A qualified MOM setup can activate guidance or stage a pending transition.
Location and volume add the plus.
L+ and S+ mean the setup has both location confluence and family-specific volume confirmation.
One point each for aligned swing structure, location confluence, and volume confirmation. Three points = A; two = B; zero or one = C.
The grade controls optional labels and their appearance. L+ or S+ does not necessarily mean grade A: swing context may be absent.
A setup can start a transition before it starts guidance.
Adaptive confirmation is the default. A setup opposed by the Kalman or ribbon context can be held for later evidence.
Timing, candle, location, and risk checks pass.
A hollow triangle marks a provisional candidate. Prior opposite guidance can close.
By default, earn at least 3/5 evidence on one of the next three closes, with all required rechecks.
Active guidance has an invalidation reference. A failed or expired candidate returns to flat.
The five checks overlap. A pending setup must also pass current price, location, risk, and other applicable checks. The earliest pending confirmation is a later bar, never its staging candle.
Track the active premise.
PUSH describes supportive continuation. EXT and the first qualifying VWAP-touch check are advisory. Repeated same-side setups can tighten invalidation; they do not widen it.
Read the reason for closure.
A close at or beyond invalidation ends the prior guidance. TREND can end it on sustained opposite alignment, an opposing CHoCH with vector volume, or a qualified reversal after reaching the opposing zone. An accepted opposite setup can also close or reverse guidance.
Two consecutive fully opposite ribbon bars plus a close through the ribbon center can end guidance. The other adaptive exit conditions can also act; a single change to gray is not this exit rule.
Small marks. Different jobs.
Hover over a marker to read its family, context, evidence, and reason. Events on the same candle can share a summary.
Up appears below price; down appears above. The hover carries details. This is not an L+ or S+ confluence signal.
Long or short guidance has been accepted; read the hover for its family and invalidation.
The candidate is provisional. No guidance in that candidate direction is active yet.
Confluence confirmations use L+ / S+. Momentum confirmations add MOM. Confirmed marks remain on the confirmation candle.
May also include + or ✓. A pending MOM setup uses a hollow triangle; inspect its hover.
Vector volume and directional ribbon context support an extended move away from nearby opposition. A lone PUSH appears as a small bullet.
Guidance stays active. Yellow → amber → orange → red expresses repeated cautions. Only the first two are visible by default.
An advisory with VWAP-dependent color. It does not close guidance. Hover to distinguish it from EXT.
The prior guidance ended. Long closes at/below the line; short closes at/above it.
No guidance in that candidate direction was activated. The hover explains why.
TREND is a terminal trend exit. FLIP can accompany a qualifying opposite confluence entry; other changes are detailed in the hover and panel.
BOS records a break in the established direction; CHoCH records a change against it. Confirmation requires a close through the exact pivot.
M+ means RSI agrees with the crossover direction. Neither raw comparison mark is itself an accepted Helios entry.
Informational only. It can reflect missing volume, insufficient relative volume, or pullback-volume quality.
Recent event labels are retained up to the configured limit. Older marks can be removed as that limit is reached. A later confirmation does not move the original pending marker backward.
Timing needs a place to work.
Read the nearest retained supply and demand together with the ribbon, VWAP, and structure.
Pivots require time to confirm.
A default strength-five pivot needs five later zone-timeframe bars before confirmation. Choose a zone timeframe equal to or higher than the chart. Drawing from the pivot origin adds historical context; it does not make the zone available earlier.
A confirmed break can flip the role.
Broken supply can become support; broken demand can become resistance. Close confirmation is the default. Wick mode uses wick penetration evaluated on a confirmed zone-timeframe candle, with the configured buffer.
An opposing zone limits space.
Room-aware checks nearby opposition. Require confluence adds same-side support or an opposing-zone break. Off removes that level filter, but the shared maximum invalidation distance and room/risk checks remain.
Use an anchor longer than the chart interval.
Session is the default. On daily candles, choose a longer anchor to make VWAP context available. Inner clouds span 1.30–1.60 standard deviations; outer clouds span 1.60–2.25 by default.
The script can pass its room check when no opposing zone is retained. That message does not establish unlimited space or remove resistance outside the retained zone set.
Read the state before the last signal.
The panel defaults to the bottom right. “Last signal” is historical; the current guidance row tells you whether the engine is flat, pending, or active.
Compression, bull/bear release, or neutral; full or developing ribbon agreement.
Nearest retained zones and directional distance in ATR. The room summary follows Kalman trend direction.
Swing/internal direction and any watch. Premium or discount compares price with swing equilibrium.
Normal, rising, peak, unavailable, stretched, or extreme context.
Flat, pending with score and age, or LONG/SHORT with close invalidation.
A wick near a pivot can start a watch. The watch tolerance does not relax BOS/CHoCH confirmation: the close must cross the actual pivot. Historical structure lines can extend back to the pivot that became known later.
Begin with the supplied defaults.
These values describe the pasted version 1.2. Adjustments change sensitivity or appearance; they do not establish expected performance.
Core behavior
All four setup families are enabled. Cooldown starts when a setup is accepted into guidance or a pending setup confirms. Failed pending setups do not consume it.
Shared risk checks
The reference distance is measured from the signal close. Pending confirmation rechecks it using current price.
Supply & demand
Blank uses the chart timeframe. Four active zones per side are retained, with role reversals enabled.
Breaks & location
The buffer confirms a zone break. Spacing keeps nearby zones from overcrowding the retained set.
Guidance
Opposed candidates can confirm on later candles after enough evidence and qualification rechecks.
Volume
Unusable volume blocks new setups by default. Price-only mode can permit BREAK, PULL, and MOM; it never enables VECTOR or awards volume evidence.
Ribbon & VWAP
Show the unified ribbon and anchored VWAP with inner and outer bands. Component lines stay hidden.
Quiet visuals
Zones, compression, invalidation, standard/confluence signals, exit marks, PUSH, and the panel are on. Grade labels are off.
Momentum
A cross can qualify on its own close or the next three closed candles, if all checks pass. Raw comparison marks are controlled separately.
The 2.0 ATR limit caps initial reference distance. The script waits for the close to invalidate guidance; it does not execute a stop order or cap realized loss.
The 30-second chart routine.
Use the same reading sequence when a new event appears.
01Check that the engine is ready and read the ribbon’s current agreement.
02Locate the nearest demand, supply, and available opposing-zone room.
03Identify the setup family; separate raw M marks from qualified MOM setups.
04Read the guidance row: pending, active LONG/SHORT, or flat.
05Find the close invalidation and distinguish advisory checks from terminal exits.
06Hover over the latest event and reassess after a confirmed change.
The ribbon describes direction. The setup qualifies timing. Guidance tracks the premise.
Trend Engine language
ATR
Average True Range measures recent trading range and gaps. Helios uses ATR to normalize distances, buffers, and movement.
Kalman
An adaptive estimate of price level and velocity. Helios compares movement with its modeled uncertainty to qualify timing.
Relative volume
Current volume compared with its moving-average baseline. The indicator checks that both current volume and its baseline are usable.
Confluence
For + entries, directional location support and qualifying volume confirmation are both present.
BOS / CHoCH
Break of Structure follows established structure direction; Change of Character breaks against it. The first break establishes a direction.
Why no setup?
Readiness, cooldown, a same-side pending candidate, price, volume, distance, room, extension, or extreme checks may block qualification. Display settings can also hide a marker without disabling the engine.
Does the current candle change?
Live lines and price-dependent context can update while a candle forms. Setup and guidance events are confirmed at bar close. Pivot-origin drawings show context that became available later.