NEWS

TTM Squeeze Indicator Explained

Simpler Trading Team

Simpler Trading Team

Jump to a Topic:

  1. What is the TTM Squeeze?
  2. What does the TTM Squeeze do?
  3. Why does it work so well?
  4. Building a trading plan with the TTM Squeeze

“What if?”… It’s the thought-provoking question traders can use to guide their success.

What if you could start trading with a limited initial investment and double, even triple, your money in a short time?

What if you could be happier and more confident about trading?

What if you really could take “monster profits” from the market?

Lean in closer; we’ll give you a little hug, or in trading terms, a “squeeze,” to boost your morale and trading skills.

That “what if” you are searching for is possible.

Confident about trading

The TTM Squeeze indicator is the foundation of the squeeze trading strategy that skyrocketed investment success for the founder of Simpler Trading, John Carter,

“The ‘Squeeze’ is the most versatile trading tool I’ve ever come across in all my years of trading,” Carter, a 30-year trading veteran, recently told an audience of thousands of traders. “I use it on stocks, options, futures, and I can use it for the position, swing, and day trading.”

Carter is the best-selling author of “Mastering the Trade” and is an 8-figure trader sought after for speaking engagements and intense training for securities investors and traders.

While the squeeze strategy has been used in trading for many years, John Carter developed the TTM Squeeze indicator in the most prominent charting software platforms, including TradeStation® and thinkorswim®.

“Not only does the TTM Squeeze pinpoint moments in time when you can look forward to a ‘greater than expected move,’ but it also works well and complements many other trading tools and systems,” Carter said. “In sum, it’s my favorite.”

Like anything in trading, there’s no guarantee with the TTM Squeeze indicator.

What it does do, based on 15 years of evaluation and performance by Carter and thousands of other traders, is provide a win rate that far exceeds expectations. Traders using the TTM Squeeze know that Carter has shown it to produce 75 percent of the time, including a few home runs.

No matter where you sit as a trader, whether it’s new, part-time, or a seasoned investor, the TTM Squeeze presents an opportunity to transform your trading strategies. As John Carter has proven, traders can turn a small investment into a significant capital asset.

Carter works daily to guide other traders through any bear or bull markets. The TTM Squeeze is the building block indicator to enhance trading strategies that avoid risk, target entry and exit points, and maximize rewards.

tress growing on coins with green graph

Stock squeeze indicator points to profits & steady income

John Carter has wrapped his trading around the TTM Squeeze for over 15 years. It’s the “aha” moment that helped him break free on the way to his goal of trading for profit and earning a steady flow of income.

It was the spark Carter told everyone he needed to commit to trading as an investment solution. This revelation was the trading indicator he searched for to help escape the corporate world and build financial freedom.

The TTM Squeeze can help traders develop a renewed commitment and more confidence to be profitable – get rich steadily. Commitment and confidence guide you to:

  • Avoid risk (less bad trades)
  • Trade to win (don’t have to be right all the time)
  • Maximize profits (Get in, get out, next)
  • Ditch negatives (kill the fear of missing out)
  • Market sense (know specific skills to create income)

This powerful combination may seem like too many claims for one chart indicator. However, there is a definite history. John Carter has more than 18 years of history using this indicator, proving how well this works.

That’s why Carter has used the TTM Squeeze indicator since 2004.

It’s proven time and time again as THE reliable tool because…

  • It’s got a 75% or better win rate
  • It helps predict big “out of the blue” moves (and eliminate FOMO)
  • It indicates more precise timing for options trades (including Carter’s 7-figure TSLA trade)

It’s hard to beat 7-figure plus results, right?

TTM Squeeze

Why does the TTM Squeeze work so well?

The TTM Squeeze is a powerful tool for insight into how the market moves because it is a layered composite of charting signals. It focuses on determining the next trend in the market.

To understand why the TTM Squeeze is so powerful, we need to get a little “techy” with how this indicator works.

The TTM Squeeze is a technical analysis indicator used within charting software. TTM Squeeze incorporates these market charting signals:

  • Bollinger Bands® – measure standard deviation (from the mean). These bands expand or contract with the volatility of the security price. When bands narrow, this indicates compression of volatility, and when bands expand, it indicates an expansion of volatility.
  • Keltner’s Channels® – measure average-true-range (ATR). ATR is a stock’s average price range over a certain number of days, i.e., 14 or 21 days. Any time that Bollinger Bands® contract to the point that they are trading inside the Keltner’s Channels® – watch for a squeeze. A release of energy is coming.
  • Momentum Oscillator – measures a stock price change over a given period of time and helps identify price trends, either up or down, and a possible energy release. If the momentum oscillator is above zero and ascending, it indicates a possible long trade. It indicates a possible short trade if it’s below zero and descending.

By merging these three tools, you have an overlapping combination that indicates market energy is about to be released. This blending of indicators signals upcoming market direction and how a stock price might follow. Identifying this potential with the indicators shows a credible squeeze.

Traders using the TTM Squeeze indicator ask, “what if,” and the indicator displays the next likely direction.

A squeeze happens quickly, and not often. It usually indicates that the market is about to react with energy up or down in a definite manner.

Savvy traders want to exercise trades when stock prices release energy, not building up energy. The TTM Squeeze allows you to be patient and be on the lookout for these precious opportunities.

This indicator is excellent for those who don’t want to be “helicopter” traders — staring at stock charts on computer monitors all day.

The TTM Squeeze has a beneficial spillover effect for traders serious about not getting caught “chasing a trade” or getting emotional because of marketplace news reports.

The TTM Squeeze doesn’t just help get you into the market at an opportune time. It KEEPS YOU OUT when you need to avoid market uncertainty.

Serious traders need to understand that they’re trading a setup – not the stock. Chasing stocks or news about stocks is terrible; traders often think, “what if?”

Traders must change their thinking to:

  • Here’s the setup, and it happens to be on stock.
  • I’m going to get in, and I’m going to get out.
  • And then I’m going to look for the next squeeze on a different stock.

This simple understanding can turn trading frustration into trading confidence and more certainty.

Unlike trading stock, where traders sit on “dead money” for months or years, trading the TTM Squeeze in options lets traders rotate their investment capital. Traders can trade squeezes on multiple time frames simultaneously (all tracked within the same charting software). They can trade across a variety of different stocks or futures, or ETFs as they learn how to manage a TTM Squeeze trade.

The TTM Squeeze is simple, easy to understand, and can show specific triggers and exit points.

Here’s a chart image with squeezes highlighted:

TTM Squeeze Indicator in action

The TTM Squeeze is shown in charting software as a series of red dots on the lower histogram (inside the circles). The TTM Squeeze indicator alerts that the market is set up for a squeeze based on alignment with Bollinger Bands®, Keltner’s Channels®, and Moving Oscillator. This combination of alerts shows that the price has signs of a strong move up or down (green and red arrows).

It doesn’t matter which stock or trading time frame (daily, weekly, monthly) is on your TTM Squeeze watchlist. You can apply a TTM Squeeze scan to reveal possible next trading moves.

You can plan trades based on the best TTM Squeeze settings to catch the market move before it gets going. Other retail traders will scramble to chase the move, while those using the TTM Squeeze indicator are already in position. 

There is no guarantee a squeeze will result in an explosive move. It could be a “normal” move with little change up or down, and there is about a 25% chance the squeeze will fail.

The key for traders is that the TTM Squeeze alerts to a solid entry point for a trade. Traders are watching for when the squeeze “fires” — the first green dot after a series of red dots.

How long to follow the squeeze depends on your skill level in managing the setup and your risk tolerance.

The initial thrust of a squeeze typically (but not guaranteed) lasts 4 bars or green dots on the histogram. Four bars into a squeeze is a targeted point to take gains and trail up the stop or break-even. Eight bars into the squeeze is a notable place to take profits or tighten up stops.

If the trade isn’t profitable following the initial thrust (which happens relatively quickly), follow the rule of “killin’ bad trades” and exiting before losses grow.

“When you have a squeeze, and it releases energy, you know there’s a strong possibility that you’re going to have a bigger than usual move,” John Carter said. “That’s so helpful, especially with options.

John Carter is passionate about using trading tools, especially the TTM Squeeze indicator, to build an advantage when trading.

“Using the TTM Squeeze is a great strategy whether you’re trading options or just the stock,” he said. “It helps you so much.

“I want to get into a move before everybody else and have my first target be everyone else’s first entry,” Carter explained. “I want my last target to be the area where people are panicking and are chasing the move.”

Seasoned traders do well to remember there is always someone on the other side of a trade. Traders chasing a move must know their entry was someone else’s target for profit.

The TTM Squeeze indicator helps traders enter a trade before other traders realize the change in market direction.

4

Build a profitable trading plan

The TTM Squeeze indicator was the game changer in John Carter’s path to trading for consistent profit.

For traders who want to build exponential growth in their trading accounts, the TTM Squeeze is a must-have, must-learn tool, according to Carter.

The TTM Squeeze is not a magic wand. The risks of trading are always present.

And, the goal is not for you to become the next elite trader or “make it big” like some high-profile trader shouting “be my millionaire protégé” promises across the internet.

Realize this: “monster profits” don’t come from home run trade after home run trade. Real wealth in the market comes from well-planned, precision trades that lead to consistent and exponential profit growth. Caution, confidence, and time are needed.

Your goal is simple: learn to trade with precision and reliability to grow your trading account confidently. The market is ripe to make attainable gains on the way to regular income from trading.

“What if” you win more trades than you lose and trade well enough to earn a steady income?

“What if” your trading account impacts your financial life with just an extra $1,000 each month? Maybe more?

The TTM Squeeze is the trading indicator that offers the “what if” in your trading life.

You get to decide how big your trading account grows and the level of financial freedom you achieve.

Adding the TTM Squeeze to your trading arsenal is a significant step forward to understanding better what the market is doing and where it might be headed. Simpler Trading training can help you manage the squeeze set up and develop a trading strategy to develop a profitable trading plan.

You can get Simpler Trading’s TTM Squeeze training here.

Good trading.

P.S. [UPDATE] Simpler Trading shares some exciting news regarding the TTM Squeeze! After 15 years as his foundational trade indicator, John Carter has improved this valuable tool to identify more significant moves. You can now access the Squeeze Pro indicator that catches huge, fast-moving opportunities that the original Squeeze used to miss.

Recent news