Bollinger Bands Color Indicator: Shading Either Side of Mid

Written by Dominic Walsh · Published 29 May 2026 · Last updated 21 Aug 2026

The bollinger bands color indicator takes the standard three line construction and adds two shading buffers on top. Above Mid fills in whenever the close finishes over the middle line, and Below Mid takes the other side. The maths behind the bands is untouched.

This build ships as a compiled .ex4 for MT4 and .ex5 for MT5; the screenshots below come from EURUSD H1.

Platforms	MT4 (.ex4) + MT5 (.ex5)
Chart window	Main price chart
Plots	5: Mid, Upper, Lower, Above Mid, Below Mid
Alerts	popup, push notification, email, sound
Inputs	8

What the Bollinger Bands Color Indicator draws on the chart

Mid, Upper and Lower carry the usual construction, an average with a deviation band either side.

Above Mid holds the close on every bar that finished over the middle line.

Below Mid holds it on every bar that finished under.

Only one of the two shading buffers receives a value per bar, so the two never overlap.

• Mid: line, goldenrod, width 2
• Upper: line, dodger blue, width 2
• Lower: line, dodger blue, width 2
• Above Mid: histogram, lime green, width 2
• Below Mid: histogram, tomato, width 2

How the Bollinger Bands Color Indicator calculates its values

The underlying bands

An averaging call gives the middle line over BbPeriod closes in simple mode. A deviation call over the same window and mode gives the spread.

Multiplying that spread by BbMult sets the distance to each band. Nothing about this half differs from a plain band construction.

Splitting by side

Each bar gets one comparison: did the close finish above the middle line or below it? The close then goes into whichever shading buffer matches.

The other buffer receives an empty value on that bar, which is what stops the two colours drawing on top of each other.

Why shade at all

Reading which side of a middle line a close landed on takes a moment of attention on a busy chart, and the answer changes bar by bar.

Shading turns that into a colour you register without looking. It adds no information the bands did not already carry, only speed of reading.

How to read the signals

A long run of one shade means closes have stayed on that side of the middle line throughout.

The shade changing is the same event as a close crossing Mid, drawn so you cannot miss it.

Shading says nothing about the outer bands. Price can be shaded above the middle and still nowhere near Upper.

Alternating shades bar after bar mean price is straddling the average, which is the least informative state this tool has.

Alert channels in this build: popup, push notification, email and sound.

Alerts cover popup, push, email and sound. This build carries no once-per-bar guard, so a condition can alert more than once while a bar is still forming.

Every Bollinger Bands Color Indicator input

Core settings

Setting	What it does	Default
BbPeriod	BbPeriod sets the window for the average, the deviation and therefore the shading boundary. It defaults to 20.	20
BbMult	BbMult is how many deviations the outer lines sit from the middle, 2.0 by default. It has no effect on the shading.	2.0

Alert settings

Setting	What it does	Default
EnableAlerts	EnableAlerts gates the message block and defaults to true.	on
EnablePopup	(see inputs panel)	on
EnablePushNotify	(see inputs panel)	off
EnableEmail	EnableEmail routes messages to your configured address. It defaults to false.	off
EnableSound	(see inputs panel)	off
SoundFile	(see inputs panel)	alert.wav

Settings that fit your chart

The screenshot uses EURUSD H1. Shading earns its keep on charts busy enough that reading the middle line takes effort, which covers M15 through H1 on most majors. On daily charts a bar is easy enough to judge by eye. On M1 the shade alternates so often that it becomes visual noise.

When the Bollinger Bands Color Indicator fails

Shading is presentation. It adds no signal the three lines were not already carrying.

The boundary is the middle line only, so a bar shaded above can still sit far below Upper with nothing notable happening.

In a range the two shades alternate constantly, which makes the chart busier rather than clearer.

The same BbPeriod drives the average, the deviation and the shading boundary, so none can be tuned apart from the others.

Copy the compiled Bollinger Bands Color Indicator file into your MQL4/Indicators folder, and the MT5 build into MQL5/Indicators, then restart the terminal and drag it onto a chart. The step-by-step guide with screenshots is at how to install MT4 and MT5 indicators.

Background reading on the method behind the Bollinger Bands Color Indicator: High Low Bands at StockCharts ChartSchool, Point and figure chart on Wikipedia.

Download the Bollinger Bands Color Indicator for MT4 and MT5

The zip holds the compiled Bollinger Bands Color Indicator build for MT4 and MT5, plus a short README. Compiled files only, no source. Enter your email below and the download link arrives in your inbox.

FAQ

What decides whether a bar gets Above Mid or Below Mid?

One comparison against the middle line. A close finishing over it goes into the Above Mid buffer, and anything under goes into Below Mid. The buffer that does not apply receives an empty value, so exactly one shade draws on each bar.

Does BbMult change where the shading switches?

No. BbMult only sets how far the outer lines sit from the middle. The shading boundary is the middle line itself, so raising BbMult to 3.0 spreads the bands wider while the colour changes at exactly the same points.

Is this different from the plain bands with a moving average?

The calculation is identical. What differs is that the side of the middle line arrives as a colour rather than as something you read off the chart. On a fast timeframe that saves real attention; on a slow one it saves very little.

Why does Above Mid flicker in a quiet range?

Because closes are straddling the average. Each bar lands on a slightly different side, so the shade alternates. That state carries the least information of any this tool shows, and a longer BbPeriod steadies it.

Are results guaranteed?

No. Trading involves risk. Results are not guaranteed; past performance is not indicative of future results. Use the Bollinger Bands Color Indicator as one input. Always backtest before trading live.