What is average true range (ATR)?
Average true range (ATR) measures how far a price typically moves in one period, gaps included. A day's true range is the largest of three gaps: high to low, high to the previous close, and low to the previous close. ATR averages it, usually over 14 periods, and is often used to set stop distances.
From the Staxo crypto glossary. The examples use Kraken daily candles (UTC), Oct 10, 2025 to Oct 10, 2026, for the eight coins on Staxo's free plan that are not stablecoins.
How to calculate ATR
Start with the true range of each day: the largest of three distances, the high minus the low, the high minus the previous close, and the previous close minus the low. The last two catch a gap, when a day opens far from where the previous one closed.
Crypto trades around the clock, so a daily candle normally opens where the previous one closed and gaps are small. For Bitcoin, the high minus the low was the largest of the three on 363 of 365 days.
For Bitcoin on Feb 6, 2026, its widest day of the window, the high was $71,696, the low $60,500 and the previous close $62,858. The three distances were $11,196 (high minus low), $8,838 (high minus the previous close) and $2,358 (previous close minus low), so the true range was $11,196.
ATR is the average of the true range, usually over 14 days. The first value is a plain average of 14 true ranges, after that each day's ATR is 13/14 of yesterday's plus 1/14 of today's true range, the same smoothing as in RSI. ATR is in dollars, so divide it by the price to compare coins.
ATR of the top coins
| Coin | ATR on Oct 10, 2026 | As a share of price | Average share, 12 months | Highest share |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cardano | $0.01714 | 6.89% | 6.61% | 11.13%, Oct 11, 2025 |
| Dogecoin | $0.004761 | 5.56% | 6.03% | 14.13%, Oct 11, 2025 |
| XRP | $0.06946 | 4.96% | 5.38% | 10.46%, Feb 5, 2026 |
| Solana | $4.77 | 4.34% | 5.67% | 10.76%, Feb 5, 2026 |
| Ethereum | $85.52 | 3.42% | 5.03% | 10.60%, Feb 5, 2026 |
| BNB | $22.61 | 3.02% | 4.22% | 11.35%, Oct 17, 2025 |
| Bitcoin | $2,125 | 2.56% | 3.50% | 6.64%, Feb 7, 2026 |
| TRON | $0.003924 | 1.19% | 1.97% | 3.25%, Oct 17, 2025 |
On Oct 10, 2026, Cardano had the largest ATR relative to its price, 6.89%, and TRON the smallest, 1.19%. Bitcoin's ATR peaked at 6.64% of its price on Feb 7, 2026 and was down to 2.56% at the end of the window: like volatility, the typical daily range changes a lot over a year.
Using ATR to set a stop distance
A fixed percentage stop treats every coin the same. A stop placed a multiple of ATR away from the price adapts to how much the coin moves. Two ATRs below Bitcoin's last close of $82,913 would be $78,663, 5.1% lower. For Cardano the same rule gives a stop 13.8% below the price.
The difference shows in the data. A stop 5% under the previous close would have been hit on 15 days for Bitcoin and on 74 days for Cardano over the 12 months. On the more volatile coin, a stop that tight mostly catches ordinary daily noise.
Two ATRs is an example, not a rule. Whatever multiple you use, the stop distance and your position size go together: a wider stop means a smaller position for the same risk.
How to practice it in Staxo
Staxo does not draw ATR, but you can practice it with the numbers on this page. Before a demo trade, take the coin's ATR as a share of its price from the table, multiply it by two and treat that as your stop distance. Enter the distance in the free position size calculator to get a trade size that risks only what you planned.
Then open the position with part of your $500 in demo money and check it in your Portfolio each day. Note whether the price reached your stop level and how often a tighter, fixed 5% stop would have closed you out first. Candlestick charts on Staxo Pro show the daily highs and lows that the true range is built from.
Free on iPhone and Android, $500 in demo money. Also on Google Play.Also on the App Store.
ATR questions
What is the difference between ATR and volatility?
Both measure how much a price moves. ATR uses each day's high, low and previous close and is quoted in dollars, as a typical daily range. Annualized volatility uses only closing prices and is quoted as a yearly percentage. ATR is handier for setting stops, volatility for comparing risk across coins and years.
Is a high ATR good or bad?
Neither. It means the coin moves a lot in a typical day, which gives a trade more room to work and to fail. Traders use a high ATR as a reason to widen stops and shrink positions, not as a sign of direction.
Try it with $500 in demo money.
Free download, no card. Also on Google Play.Also on the App Store.
Educational content, not investment advice. The examples describe prices from Oct 10, 2025 to Oct 10, 2026 and say nothing about where they go next. Staxo is a simulator: you practice with demo money, never real money.