NR7 (Narrow Range)
An NR7, from Toby Crabel's work on volatility patterns, is a bar whose high-to-low range is the narrowest of the last seven. Narrow ranges reflect balance between buyers and sellers, and periods of unusually low volatility tend to be followed by expansion.
- Bias
- Neutral / directionless
- Category
- Volatility Compression
- Scan cadence
- Every close
What has to be true for a NR7 (Narrow Range) to trigger
- The session's range narrower than each of the previous six
- A genuine contraction rather than a low-liquidity artefact
How PatternGrade grades it
A tighter range relative to the stock's normal volatility, and better surrounding structure, raise the grade.
Every scanner grades its hits A+, A or B from the pattern's own measurable structure. The grading is deterministic — the same chart always produces the same grade. It describes how closely the chart matches the pattern, not how likely anything is to happen; no hit rate or probability is attached to a grade. The reasoning is set out in the methodology.
What a NR7 (Narrow Range) looks like in practice
A stock's daily ranges over seven sessions run $2.10, $1.85, $2.40, $1.60, $1.45, $1.30 and then $0.72. The last bar is narrower than any of the previous six. That is the NR7. It closes mid-range on volume slightly below average, after a week in which each successive session covered less ground than the last.
How a NR7 (Narrow Range) fails
Nothing about an NR7 predicts direction, so the failure is treating it as if it did. Narrow ranges precede expansions, but expansions go both ways, and a large fraction of NR7 bars are followed by another quiet session rather than any expansion at all. The signal is about volatility, not price, and using it directionally without a structural reason is where it goes wrong.
What this pattern is telling you
NR7 signals compression, not direction. The expansion that follows can go either way, and this is why PatternGrade classifies it as neutral.
PatternGrade is not a financial advisor and does not give buy or sell recommendations. Targets and stops shown on a pattern are reference levels derived from its geometry, not advice.
How to scan for NR7 (Narrow Range) setups
PatternGrade rescans every liquid US stock (~4,500 names) for this pattern after every close and returns the hits as a graded list, with the pattern drawn on each chart, so you review setups rather than hunt for them.
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NR7 (Narrow Range) FAQ
What is an NR7 pattern?
A trading session whose high-to-low range is the narrowest of the previous seven sessions. It is a volatility compression signal.
Is NR7 bullish or bearish?
Neither. It signals that a volatility expansion is likely, without indicating which way it will resolve.
What does NR7 stand for?
Narrow Range 7: a session whose high-to-low range is the smallest of the last seven. Toby Crabel described the family of narrow-range patterns in Day Trading with Short Term Price Patterns and Opening Range Breakout, and variants like NR4 and the even stricter NR7 with an inside bar come from the same work.
Is an NR7 bullish or bearish?
Neither, which is why PatternGrade classifies it as neutral. It says volatility has compressed and an expansion is more likely than usual. Direction has to come from the structure the NR7 sits inside. The same bar means opposite things at the top of a base and at the bottom of a downtrend.
How often do NR7 bars appear?
Frequently. They show up several times a year in most liquid stocks, and more often in quiet markets. That frequency is why they are normally used as a filter alongside a directional setup rather than as signals in their own right.
What is the conventional way to trade an NR7?
The classic approach is a break of the narrow bar's high or low, taking whichever direction resolves first, with the other extreme as the invalidation level. PatternGrade detects and grades the bar and draws those reference levels; how or whether to act is your decision.
Patterns a NR7 (Narrow Range) is mistaken for
- Inside Bar
- An inside bar is contained within the prior bar's high and low. An NR7 has the narrowest range of seven sessions but may still exceed the prior bar's extremes. Some bars are both.
- ADR Contraction
- ADR contraction measures a multi-week decline in average range. NR7 is a single-session comparison against six neighbours.
- Bollinger Squeeze
- A squeeze is a multi-session indicator condition. NR7 is one bar. A squeeze often contains several NR7s.
- Volume Dry-Up
- NR7 measures price range; volume dry-up measures shares traded. They frequently coincide but neither implies the other.
Last reviewed . Structure and grading for the NR7 (Narrow Range) are reviewed against the scanner's own rules.