Settings

Every knob in Axiom BB CTX exists because some user — probably a version of you on a different day — needed the room to move. That makes the settings dialog long. It does not make it arbitrary, and it does not mean ev...

Written By Axiom Admin

Last updated 22 days ago

Settings

Every knob in Axiom BB CTX exists because some user — probably a version of you on a different day — needed the room to move. That makes the settings dialog long. It does not make it arbitrary, and it does not mean every knob is for every reader. The fastest way to be confused by this tool is to treat the inputs dialog as a scavenger hunt you have to complete before the chart counts.

This page walks the inputs in the order you actually reach for them when you set up a slot, which is not always the order TradingView shows them. The GUI groups inputs by BB slot (BB 01 through BB 10), with a separate power-user group (BB 01 PU through BB 10 PU) per slot, plus a BB Blended group for the composite band. Within each slot, we read the inputs in slot-lifecycle order:

  1. Enable and visibility. Is the slot on? Is its plot drawn?

  2. Source, timeframe, ticker. Where is the data coming from?

  3. Length, standard deviation, type. What kind of Bollinger Band is this slot?

  4. Trend length, line width, blend weight. How is this slot reported and how much voice does it get in the blend?

  5. Power-user parameters. Which visible power-user knobs does this slot's MA type actually use?

Read each subsection below in that order. If a knob you are reaching for is not covered here, it is either cosmetic (color, line width) or it is governed by another page — the power-user MA semantics live in the Axiom MA Pro Library manual, because that library owns those MA types.

A note before any tuning

The shipped defaults are not "optimized." They are not "recommended." They are the values that load the tool cleanly on a 1-minute chart of a liquid symbol. If your chart is a 4-hour oil future or a daily stock, the defaults are still a reasonable starting point — the BB length and multiplier are textbook, so the envelope will look like a Bollinger Band the first time you see it — but there is no editorial claim here that 5m / 15m / 60m and 33.3 / 33.3 / 33.3 weights are the right starting point for your workflow.

Change a default when your reading of the chart gives you a reason. Change it back when the reason stops applying. Do not stretch a default into being correct because you are reluctant to touch the inputs dialog. Decisions you made deliberately are ones you can unwind deliberately. Decisions you drifted into are ones that quietly take your read apart weeks later.

Per-slot primary inputs

Every slot carries the same primary inputs. The table below is the shared schema; slot-specific defaults are noted where they differ.

Input

Type / range

Default

What it changes

When to change it

Misuse risk

Enable BB NN

boolean

Slots 01–03 true; 04–10 false

Turns the slot on or off entirely. A disabled slot contributes nothing to plots, to the blend, or to alerts.

Turn it on only when you have a specific reason for that extra band.

Flipping slots on "because they are there" dilutes every other slot on the chart and crowds your read.

Hide BB NN Plot

boolean

false

Keeps the slot computed and included in the blend and the alignment alerts, but hides its three plotted lines.

When a slot is useful in the blend or in alerts but its lines would clutter the chart.

Hidden is not excluded. See the callout below.

Source:

price series

close

The price series the BB is computed from, read inside the slot's timeframe and symbol.

When you specifically want hl2, hlc3, ohlc4, a typical-price proxy, or another plot as the input.

A source with very different statistical behavior (say, a custom oscillator wired in as a source) breaks the "standard BB" mental model.

TimeFrame:

TradingView timeframe string

01 = "5", 02 = "15", 03 = "60", slots 04–10 = ""

The higher timeframe the slot runs on. Blank means "inherit the chart timeframe."

When you want explicit higher-timeframe context from that slot.

Must be equal to or greater than the chart timeframe. If it is lower, the indicator raises a named runtime error. See MTF & Repainting.

Length:

integer, minimum 1

20

The Bollinger lookback. Drives both the basis MA and the standard-deviation window.

When you want a tighter or wider feel on a given timeframe.

Very short lengths are noisy; very long lengths are sluggish. Neither is "better" by itself.

StdDev Mult:

float, minimum 0.001, step 0.001

2.0

How many standard deviations the bands sit from the basis.

When you want a tighter or looser envelope for that slot.

A very small multiplier hugs price and makes touches meaningless. A very large multiplier rarely fires and can flatter rare touches into feeling like signal when they are not.

Type:

enum (Axiom MA Library Pro MaType)

SMA

The moving-average style used for the basis. ALMA, KAMA, FRAMA, Jurik, Laguerre, and VAMA each consume matching parameters from that slot's PU group.

When you specifically want EMA, WMA, HMA, ALMA, KAMA, FRAMA, Jurik, Laguerre, VAMA, or another supported style.

Changing Type: without also checking the matching PU parameter can give you a curve you did not intend. MA-specific semantics live in the MA Pro library manual.

Basis Trend Length:

integer, minimum 1

3

How many bars back the basis is compared against to decide "rising" or "falling." Drives this slot's basis-trend state and its two basis-trend alerts.

When you want a faster or more deliberate trend read.

Very easy to confuse with Length:. They are different lookbacks for different jobs. Read the callout below.

Line Width:

integer

2

Visual thickness of the slot's three lines.

Readability when many slots are visible.

No mechanical effect.

Blended Weight:

float

33.3 on slots 01–03; 0 on slots 04–10

How strongly the slot steers the blended band. A weight of zero keeps the slot's lines on the chart but removes its voice from the blend.

When you want to give more voice to the timeframes you trust most for the question you are trying to answer.

The blend divides by the total of contributing weights. Setting every slot to the same weight is a statement that every slot is equally informative. Make that statement on purpose.

Optional Ticker:

symbol string

""

Alternate symbol the slot reads from. Blank inherits the chart symbol.

When you want to overlay a related market's envelope, rescaled into chart price space.

The scaling preserves shape, not causality. Sessions must be compatible; mismatched hours can distort the scaled placement. See For the Geeks and Limitations & Trust Boundaries.

Callout: Length: is not Basis Trend Length:

This one trips people up often enough that it is worth spelling out.

  • Length: is the Bollinger window. It is used both to compute the basis moving average and to compute the standard deviation the upper/lower bands sit at. Change Length: and both the basis shape and the band width change together.

  • Basis Trend Length: is the trend lookback for the basis. It is used only to decide whether the basis is currently rising or falling: the current basis value is compared to the basis value from that many bars ago. Change Basis Trend Length: and the basis-trend state (and any basis-trend alert wired to it) changes. The band width does not.

If you want "a smoother basis," turn Length: up. If you want "a faster basis-trend reaction," turn Basis Trend Length: down. They are neighbors in the inputs dialog, and the similar names are unfortunate, but they are not the same knob.

Callout: "Hidden" does not mean "excluded"

Hide BB NN Plot does one thing and one thing only: it stops the slot's three lines from being drawn. The slot still computes every bar. It still contributes its weighted bands to the blend. It still participates in the All BB Slot Bases Uptrend and All BB Slot Bases Downtrend alignment alerts.

If you want a slot out of the blend, set its Blended Weight to zero. If you want a slot out of alignment alerts, disable it with Enable BB NN. If you just do not want to see its lines, hide the plot.

This is the single most common first-week misread. The Visuals & Logic page teaches the "weight-zero, visible" pattern and its legitimate uses, so you can tell the difference between "I want this slot quiet" and "I want this slot gone."

Callout: "Optional Ticker" is not a leading indicator

Setting Optional Ticker: on a slot tells it to read its Bollinger Band from that other symbol, at the slot's chosen timeframe, and rescale the result into the chart symbol's price space so the lines land near your price. That is a scaling, not a prediction.

The manual treats the cross-ticker case at depth twice more: once in Visuals & Logic (what you are looking at) and once in For the Geeks (how the scaling is computed and what its failure modes are). The short version: a BTC-scaled band drawn on an SPX chart is a study of BTC's volatility envelope expressed in SPX's price space. It is not a claim that BTC will pull SPX anywhere.

Per-slot power-user inputs

Each slot has a matching power-user group (BB 01 PU through BB 10 PU). Most of the parameters in these groups only matter when the slot's Type: is set to the MA type that uses them. On Bar Close? is the exception: it applies to every slot regardless of MA type, and it is the most consequential input in the entire pack.

Input

Type

Default

Applies to

What it does

Misuse risk

On Bar Close?

boolean

true

All MA types

ON reports the previous, confirmed value on the slot's higher-timeframe bar. OFF reports the live higher-timeframe value and can redraw until that higher-timeframe bar closes.

Leaving OFF globally turns the indicator into a faster but repaint-exposed reader. If you do not understand the tradeoff cold, read MTF & Repainting before you flip any slot OFF.

ALMA Floor Offset?

boolean

false

ALMA

Whether the ALMA offset is floored to an integer.

Rarely relevant outside careful ALMA tuning.

ALMA Offset:

float

0.85

ALMA

Position of the ALMA window's center.

Values outside reasonable ALMA ranges make the curve erratic.

ALMA Sigma:

float

6.0

ALMA

Shape of the ALMA window.

A mis-tuned sigma produces a curve that no longer resembles a recognizable BB basis.

KAMA/FRAMA Fast:

integer

2

KAMA, FRAMA

The fast length parameter.

Paired with Slow. Moving one without the other distorts the responsiveness of the curve.

KAMA/FRAMA Slow:

integer

30

KAMA, FRAMA

The slow length parameter.

Same as Fast — keep them paired.

Jurik Phase:

integer

0

Jurik MA

Phase knob for Jurik.

Extreme phases introduce lag or overshoot.

Jurik Power:

float

2.0

Jurik MA

Power knob for Jurik.

Same class of failure as Jurik Phase at extreme values.

Laguerre Alpha:

float

0.5

Laguerre MA

Alpha knob.

Low alpha over-smooths into irrelevance; high alpha tracks noise too aggressively.

VAMA Vol Length:

integer

20

VAMA

Volatility lookback for the VAMA approximation.

Thin, gappy, or otherwise unstable price action can make this approximation read poorly. This parameter does not read volume.

The deeper semantics of ALMA, KAMA/FRAMA, Jurik, Laguerre, and VAMA — what each MA type is trying to accomplish, where each one shines, and what values are sensible — are governed by the Axiom MA Pro library. Cross-link: Axiom MA Pro Library manual. This manual will not re-teach those MA types; if a curve does not look right, start there.

BB Blended inputs

Input

Type

Default

What it does

Warning

Enable Blended BB

boolean

true

Turns the composite band on or off entirely.

With the blend off, you are relying purely on per-slot reads. That is acceptable; make it a deliberate choice.

Hide Blended BB Plot

boolean

false

Hides the three blended lines and the fill without turning the math off.

Rarely useful outside the unusual case where you want the blended basis-trend alerts but not the lines.

Line Width:

integer

3

Thickness of the three blended lines.

Cosmetic.

The blended band is a weighted composite of enabled slots with non-zero weight. That is a rule, not an impression. The math that executes that rule — and how the blend decides its own basis-trend direction when slots disagree — is documented in For the Geeks and summarized in Visuals & Logic.

Dependency and interaction map

The inputs do not sit on an island; some depend on others in ways that can surprise a careful reader. The list below summarizes the non-obvious interactions.

  • Slot timeframe must be equal to or greater than the chart timeframe. Violation raises a named runtime error — for example, BB 01 timeframe cannot be lower than the chart timeframe. The fix is to raise the slot's timeframe or leave it blank.

  • Source: is evaluated inside the slot's symbol and timeframe. It is not the chart's close. If Optional Ticker: is set to QQQ and Source: is hl2, the slot reads QQQ's hl2 at the slot's timeframe.

  • Type: decides which PU parameters matter. Setting Type: to ALMA makes the ALMA inputs live; other PU parameters for that slot become inert. The inert parameters remain visible in the dialog but do not influence the curve.

  • Hide BB NN Plot does not remove the slot from the blend or from alignment alerts. Only Enable BB NN = false or Blended Weight = 0 changes those contributions, and each one changes a different thing.

  • Blended Weight = 0 keeps the slot visible on the chart but removes its voice from the composite basis/upper/lower math. The slot still contributes to alignment alerts because alignment counts by "enabled slot with a non-na basis," not by weight.

  • The blended basis-trend direction uses a weight-majority vote across enabled slots with a valid basis. An uptrend-voting slot with a large weight can outvote two downtrend-voting slots with small weights. The rule is stated plainly in For the Geeks.

  • Cross-ticker reads use the same repaint posture as the slot. If On Bar Close? is ON, the scaled band steps; if OFF, the scaled band can drift. The scaling does not secretly add its own repaint layer.

Defaults as defaults — not as ranking

The default slot palette (5m, 15m, 60m) is a serviceable starting point for an intraday reader on a small chart timeframe. The default Length: 20 and StdDev Mult: 2.0 are the textbook Bollinger settings; they plot a familiar envelope and let the reader confirm that the tool is behaving like a Bollinger Band before they start tuning. The default MA type is SMA for the same reason — it is the canonical basis and carries no surprising shape.

The default weights (33.3 on each of the first three slots) express one statement, and one statement only: "I trust these three timeframes equally." That is a useful starting read, not a claim that equal weighting is how you should compose a blend. If you trade off a 15-minute chart and the 60-minute slot is context more than anything you ever act on, a 45 / 45 / 10 weighting is a more honest description of your process than the shipped 33.3 / 33.3 / 33.3 — and the blend will reflect how you actually read the chart rather than a balance that looked neat on import day.

Change defaults because your reading changes them for you, not because you have decided the defaults must be wrong and something else must be right. A thoughtful reason to hold a default is as valid as a thoughtful reason to move it. The dishonest move, in either direction, is letting the setting slide into a value you cannot explain out loud.

Where to go next

  • For what each visible line means on a configured chart, Visuals & Logic.

  • For the On Bar Close? posture in full — why ON exists, when OFF is honest, how to verify both — MTF & Repainting.

  • For the deeper MA semantics of ALMA, KAMA/FRAMA, Jurik, Laguerre, VAMA, the Axiom MA Pro Library manual.

  • For how the blend actually composes its bands and resolves its basis-trend vote, For the Geeks.