Quick Start

Quick Start

This page gets you from "I just added the indicator" to "I can see it working and I know what I am looking at" in five steps. It does not try to explain everything. It gets you to a confirmed starting point so the rest of the manual has something concrete to build on.

Step 1 — Add the indicator to a chart

Apply Axiom BB Pro to a 1-minute or 5-minute chart of an actively traded instrument. A lower-timeframe chart is the best starting point because it makes the multi-timeframe layering most visible — you will see clear separation between the different BB timeframes.

A daily chart can work, but not with the untouched defaults. Slots 1–3 default to 5m, 15m, and 60m, and the script throws a runtime error if an enabled slot is set below the chart timeframe. If you trade on higher timeframes, raise or clear those slot timeframes in Settings first. For a first pass, use a 1m or 5m chart so the default stack shows up the way it was configured.

Step 2 — Confirm the default state

On first load, you should see:

• Three sets of Bollinger Bands at different scales, each in its own color:

• Teal — Slot 1, set to the 5-minute timeframe

• Blue — Slot 2, set to the 15-minute timeframe

• Purple — Slot 3, set to the 60-minute timeframe

• A heavier red-and-lime envelope overlaid on top — this is the blended band

• Red upper and lower lines with a semi-transparent red fill between them

• Lime basis (center) line

• The three individual band sets should sit at visibly different widths. The 5-minute bands hug price most tightly. The 60-minute bands are the widest. The 15-minute bands sit in between.

If you see only one set of bands, or the script throws a timeframe error, your chart timeframe is too close to or above one of the enabled slot timeframes. Drop to a 1-minute or 5-minute chart, or reconfigure the enabled slots so every timeframe is at or above the chart timeframe.

What the colors mean: Each slot has a dedicated color so you can tell them apart at a glance. The colors do not encode any signal or state. Teal is always Slot 1, blue is always Slot 2, and so on regardless of what that slot is configured to do.

Step 3 — Open settings and verify the safe defaults

Open the indicator's settings panel. You will see a long list organized into slot groups (BB 01 through BB 10) followed by a "BB Blended" section at the bottom.

Check these three things:

1. Slots 1 through 3 are enabled. Their "Enable BB" toggles should be checked on. Slots 4 through 10 should be off.

2. On Bar Close is on for every enabled slot. Look for the "On Bar Close?" toggle inside each slot's settings. It should be checked. This is the default, and it is the safe setting — it means the higher-timeframe bands only update when the HTF candle closes, not while it is still building.

3. The blended band is enabled. In the "BB Blended" section, "Enable Blended BB" should be checked on.

If all three check out, you are running on safe defaults. The bands you see on historical bars reflect what was actually visible at the time, so historical indicator behavior stays aligned with live behavior.

Why this matters now: On Bar Close is the single most important trust setting in the entire indicator. If it is off, the bands update faster — but what you see on historical bars is not what you would have seen live. That mismatch makes backtests unreliable. The MTF & Repainting page explains why in full. For now, just confirm it is on.

Step 4 — Run a sanity check

With the defaults confirmed, do this quick test to make sure the indicator is computing correctly:

1. Watch the bands for a few minutes on a 1-minute chart. The teal 5-minute bands should step to a new value every five 1-minute bars (at the close of each 5-minute candle). The blue 15-minute bands should step every fifteen bars. The purple 60-minute bands should only move once an hour.

2. Between those steps, the bands should be flat. If On Bar Close is on, the higher-timeframe bands do not wiggle with each new 1-minute bar. They sit still until their timeframe's candle closes. This flat behavior is correct, not broken.

3. Check the blended band's position. With three slots at equal default weights (33.3 each), the blended band should sit roughly in the middle of the three individual band sets. It is averaging the raw upper, basis, and lower values from each slot, so it may not look like a hand-drawn visual midpoint between the envelopes, but it should clearly sit between the contributing bands rather than outside them.

If the bands are stepping at the right intervals, staying flat between steps, and the blend sits between the individual slots, the indicator is working correctly.

Step 5 — Verify repaint behavior (optional but recommended)

This takes about two minutes and gives you direct proof that On Bar Close does what it claims.

1. Find a slot set to a timeframe that will close soon. On a 1-minute chart, the 5-minute slot (Slot 1) closes every 5 minutes, so you will not wait long.

2. Note the current position of the teal (5m) bands.

3. Wait for the 5-minute candle to close. The bands should step to a new position at the close.

4. Now toggle On Bar Close off for Slot 1 in settings.

5. Watch the bands. They should now update with every 1-minute bar as the 5-minute candle builds. The values shift continuously instead of stepping once per 5-minute close.

6. Toggle On Bar Close back on. The bands return to stepping behavior.

What you just saw is the repaint tradeoff in action. With On Bar Close on, you get stability — the bands reflect confirmed data, and what you see on historical bars is what was visible at the time. With it off, you get speed — but the values during the building candle are provisional. When the candle closes, the final value may differ from what you were looking at mid-candle. And on historical bars, only the final settled value survives. If you were to build a strategy around those historical values, you would be testing against information that was not actually available when the candle was forming.

This is not an abstract concern. It is the most common way multi-timeframe indicators mislead traders on TradingView. The default protects you from it. Turn On Bar Close back on before you move on.

First traps — things that look broken but are not

"The bands are flat and only update every few bars"

That is correct behavior. When On Bar Close is on and your chart timeframe is lower than the slot's timeframe, the bands only update when the higher-timeframe candle closes. A 60-minute slot on a 1-minute chart updates once per hour. Between those updates, the bands are flat. This is stability, not a bug.

"I turned off On Bar Close and now the bands move constantly"

Also correct. You asked for live updates, and you got them. The bands now reflect the unconfirmed HTF candle as it builds. This is faster but less stable. What you see mid-candle may differ from what settles at the close.

"I enabled all 10 slots and the chart is unreadable"

The tool is designed for selective use, not maximum activation. Ten simultaneous BB layers will overwhelm any chart. Start with 2 or 3 slots at timeframes that matter to your actual trading. Add more only when you have a specific reason for each one. More slots is not better analysis — it is more noise unless each slot is there on purpose.

"The blended band does not sit where I expected"

The blend is a weighted average, and it has some properties that are not obvious at first. It blends upper, basis, and lower bands independently, so it lands wherever those raw averages land. Hidden slots (where you turned off the plot but left the slot enabled) still contribute to the blend. If the blend looks off, check your weight settings and whether any hidden slots are influencing it. The Visuals & Logic page has a full explanation of how the blend behaves under different configurations.

What to explore next

Now that you have confirmed the indicator is working:

• To understand the full settings surface: Settings walks through every input in three tiers — what matters immediately, what matters when you start configuring, and what only activates under specific conditions.

• To learn what the visual elements actually mean: Visuals & Logic teaches you how to read the chart beyond "price is above or below the band."

• To understand the repaint tradeoff in depth: MTF & Repainting covers the mechanics, the risks, and a full verification walkthrough.