What are the common Bull Bear Index settings?

The four-SMA convention uses 3, 6, 12 and 24 bars of closing prices, with each average weighted one quarter. These are the defaults used here, not universally optimal settings. Verify the formula of any other script with the same name.

Why is the BBI blank on the first bars?

The default requires 24 consecutive valid closes. Before that, the longest SMA is unavailable. The example also rejects windows with missing closes, and it waits for bar confirmation. Crossing signals require a valid previous BBI as well.

Does price above BBI mean I should buy?

It means price is above a weighted average of recent closes. It does not define an entry fill, exit or risk limit. The range example shows how successive confirmed crosses can alternate without a sustained trend.

Is this the Bank of America Bull & Bear Indicator?

No. This BBI is calculated only from one chart price series. It does not reproduce a proprietary sentiment model or supply a current bank sentiment reading.

TradingView indicator guide

Bull Bear Index indicator: the four-SMA BBI on TradingView

The Bull Bear Index indicator covered here is BBI = (SMA(close, 3) + SMA(close, 6) + SMA(close, 12) + SMA(close, 24)) / 4. It combines four price averages into one line on the chart. A close above BBI is above this blended average; it does not establish a profitable buy signal. The name also appears on sentiment measures and unrelated scripts, so identify the formula before comparing readings.

See the decision guide

Identify which Bull Bear Index you mean

Public BBI descriptions by TradingView authors AgentC and xbj use the four lengths 3, 6, 12 and 24. Those published formulas establish the convention used here; this page independently implements the arithmetic. It does not reproduce a protected script, its hidden filters, or any proprietary bank model.

A published three-average BBI variant uses 6, 12 and 24. Removing the three-bar component changes the result; it is not the four-average calculation below.
Use standard candles when you want actual bar closes. Heikin Ashi and other synthetic chart prices change the input.

Name or variant	Inputs and calculation	Meaning of the output
Four-SMA BBI on this page	Four closing-price SMAs, averaged equally	A line in the same units as price
Elder Ray Bull Bear Power	High minus an EMA of close; low minus that EMA	Distances above and below an EMA
Bank or survey bull/bear sentiment measure	Provider-specific sentiment, positioning or survey inputs	A separate methodology; four chart averages cannot reproduce it
Other scripts named BBI	Check the author, source, lengths and smoothing	The title alone does not identify the formula

Equal average weights are unequal price weights

For a length N, SMA(close, N) sums the current close and the previous N minus one closes, then divides by N. Average the four SMA values with divisor 4. With the default lengths, recent closes appear in more of those windows and therefore carry more weight. The table gives the exact coefficient of each individual close.

The coefficients sum to 1. A 24-bar SMA instead assigns every close 1/24, so it is a different filter even though both require 24 bars of history.
On a five-minute chart, 24 means 24 five-minute bars. It means 24 daily observations only on a daily chart. Market closures do not add empty observations.
Lengths need not be ordered: the longest controls warmup. Repeated lengths are allowed but repeat that component weight. Four identical lengths reduce exactly to one SMA.

Age of close, current = 0	Coefficient in BBI	Total weight of this group
0 to 2 bars ago	(1/3 + 1/6 + 1/12 + 1/24) / 4 = 15/96	3 × 15/96 = 46.875%
3 to 5 bars ago	(1/6 + 1/12 + 1/24) / 4 = 7/96	3 × 7/96 = 21.875%
6 to 11 bars ago	(1/12 + 1/24) / 4 = 3/96	6 × 3/96 = 18.75%
12 to 23 bars ago	(1/24) / 4 = 1/96	12 × 1/96 = 12.5%

Recalculate all four components and a price crossing

Use a hypothetical series whose first 24 closes are 1, 2, 3, through 24 in arbitrary price units. On bar 24, the latest three closes total 69; the latest six total 129; the latest twelve total 222; all 24 total 300. Then append closes of 10 and 25. These inputs are arithmetic fixtures, not market observations.

On bar 24, BBI = (23 + 21.5 + 18.5 + 12.5) / 4 = 18.875. A 12-bar SMA is 18.5 and a 24-bar SMA is 12.5. Neither is interchangeable with BBI.
A cross above requires current close > current BBI and previous close <= previous BBI. A cross below requires current close < current BBI and previous close >= previous BBI. Equality on the current bar is not a cross.
Bar 24 has a valid BBI but no valid BBI on bar 23, so it cannot establish a crossing. Bar 25 goes from 24 > 18.875 to 10 < 17.53125. Bar 26 reverses that relation.
Round only for display. Evaluate crossings with the unrounded values and the same symbol, feed, session and adjustment settings.

Bar / close	SMA 3	SMA 6	SMA 12	SMA 24	BBI / crossing
24 / 24	69/3 = 23	129/6 = 21.5	222/12 = 18.5	300/24 = 12.5	18.875; no previous BBI
25 / 10	57/3 = 19	120/6 = 20	219/12 = 18.25	309/24 = 12.875	17.53125; cross below
26 / 25	59/3 = 19.666667	125/6 = 20.833333	230/12 = 19.166667	332/24 = 13.833333	18.375; cross above

Four averages still whipsaw in a range

For a separate hypothetical path, start with 24 closes of 100, then append 104, 96, 104 and 96. A valid prior BBI exists before the first jump. Both BBI and a single 24-bar SMA generate alternating crossings on all four new bars. Combining averages does not remove this failure mode.

For the first jump, BBI moves by 4 × 15/96 = 0.625 while SMA 24 moves by 4/24 = 0.166667. That stronger immediate response is a consequence of the weights, not evidence of better trades.
On a steady rise of one unit per bar after warmup, BBI is 5.125 units behind the latest close; SMA 24 is 11.5 units behind. This is their weighted mean bar age for that constructed path, not a universal turning-point delay.
A close-above-BBI state can persist for many bars without another crossing. Conversely, treating every crossing as a new trend produces repeated reversals in this range example.
A slope requirement, distance buffer or persistence rule changes the signals and delays some entries. Test such rules separately with defined exits, fees and slippage; this example does not select a profitable filter.

Bar / close	BBI	SMA 24	Confirmed close crossing
24 / 100	100	100	No crossing; equality
25 / 104	100.625	100.166667	Above both lines
26 / 96	100	100	Below both lines
27 / 104	100.625	100.166667	Above both lines
28 / 96	99.666667	100	Below both lines

Pine Script v6 with explicit warmup and confirmed crossings

Paste this complete indicator into the TradingView Pine Editor and add it to a standard chart. The four lengths are editable, the source is close, and all calculations use the chart timeframe. The Data Window exposes the four components after warmup. The current open bar has no plotted BBI until it closes.

The longest length sets the required consecutive history. A missing close anywhere in that window makes BBI unavailable; the code does not fill missing prices with zero or shorten the window.
Crossings need two adjacent valid BBI values. After a missing-data gap, the first valid value restores the line but cannot itself trigger a crossing.
The confirmation gate prevents a temporary intrabar crossing from producing a marker or alert condition. It does not protect against later data-feed revisions, and it is not a higher-timeframe confirmation method.
Create an alert from the named condition in TradingView and select Once Per Bar Close. The script alone does not create a running alert. Recreate alerts after changing inputs or source code because existing alerts use a saved snapshot.

Independent implementation of the disclosed four-SMA formula. Pineify syntax checking returned no errors on 2026-10-18. This is an indicator with alert conditions, not an order-executing strategy.pine

//@version=6
indicator("Four-SMA BBI audit", overlay = true, precision = 6)
n1 = input.int(3, "SMA 1 bars", minval = 1, maxval = 1000)
n2 = input.int(6, "SMA 2 bars", minval = 1, maxval = 1000)
n3 = input.int(12, "SMA 3 bars", minval = 1, maxval = 1000)
n4 = input.int(24, "SMA 4 bars", minval = 1, maxval = 1000)
longest = math.max(n1, n2, n3, n4)
ma1 = ta.sma(close, n1)
ma2 = ta.sma(close, n2)
ma3 = ta.sma(close, n3)
ma4 = ta.sma(close, n4)
missingCount = math.sum(na(close) ? 1.0 : 0.0, longest)
ready = bar_index >= longest - 1 and missingCount == 0
bbi = ready ? (ma1 + ma2 + ma3 + ma4) / 4.0 : na
crossUp = ta.crossover(close, bbi)
crossDown = ta.crossunder(close, bbi)
validPair = not na(bbi) and not na(bbi[1]) and not na(close[1])
confirmed = barstate.isconfirmed
up = confirmed and validPair and crossUp
down = confirmed and validPair and crossDown
plot(confirmed ? bbi : na, "BBI", color = color.blue, linewidth = 2, style = plot.style_linebr)
plot(confirmed and ready ? ma1 : na, "SMA 1", display = display.data_window)
plot(confirmed and ready ? ma2 : na, "SMA 2", display = display.data_window)
plot(confirmed and ready ? ma3 : na, "SMA 3", display = display.data_window)
plot(confirmed and ready ? ma4 : na, "SMA 4", display = display.data_window)
plotshape(up, "Close crossed above BBI", shape.triangleup, location.belowbar, color.blue, text = "UP", size = size.tiny)
plotshape(down, "Close crossed below BBI", shape.triangledown, location.abovebar, color.orange, text = "DOWN", size = size.tiny)
alertcondition(up, "Close above BBI", "Confirmed close crossed above the four-SMA BBI.")
alertcondition(down, "Close below BBI", "Confirmed close crossed below the four-SMA BBI.")

Use the formula as the acceptance test for an AI draft

The Pine Script AI Coding Agent can draft or revise an indicator from your written rules and request syntax diagnostics. Provide the four SMA lengths, close source, equal component weights, consecutive-history requirement and confirmed price-crossing rule. Compare the generated components with the fixtures above before adapting the script.

Keep all four SMA values visible while checking the output. A script that silently substitutes EMAs, omits a component or compares close with the previous BBI implements a different rule.
If you want a strategy, specify order timing, exits, sizing and costs separately. Compiling the indicator proves neither its numerical equivalence to an unknown script nor its profitability.

Where Pineify fits

Pine Script AI Coding Agent

Draft or revise the disclosed BBI calculation, request syntax checking, then compare the four component averages and crossing timestamps in TradingView.

Draft a BBI indicator

Related resources

TradingView indicator guides 200-day moving average: days versus bars Price Z-score: deviation from a rolling mean Pine Script AI Coding Agent

Frequently asked questions

Educational information, not investment advice. Price sequences are hypothetical calculations, not backtest results. Moving-average crossings and successful syntax validation do not establish profitability.

Sources and verification

Last verified: 2026-10-18

Published by Pineify. Pineify is an independent product and is not affiliated with TradingView. Sources support the technical explanations; examples do not establish trading performance.