SMT, explained from the start
What an SMT divergence is, how the indicator finds and confirms one, what every setting does, and how it works with All-in-One. In plain words.
01Start here
Two markets that usually move together, such as the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 futures, sometimes disagree at an important level: one makes a new low, the other doesn't. That disagreement is an SMT divergence (often just "SMT"). It can show that the move through the level lacks support from the correlated market.
The SMT indicator finds these divergences for you, but not between just any highs and lows: it measures them only at higher-timeframe levels (a higher timeframe's IRL, the swing a higher-timeframe leg started from, the previous day, week, month or year) and at the Asia and London session highs and lows. It draws each SMT on both markets and alerts you when it is confirmed.
An SMT is confluence for your own trade idea, not a signal on its own. It says that two markets diverged at a level; what you do with that is your decision.
In four steps
- Pick the pair. SMT chooses the correlated market for your chart automatically (or uses the one you set) and shows its candles in its pane.
- Mark the levels. On one, two or three higher timeframes, it follows the levels where an SMT counts.
- Watch for the divergence. One market takes its level, the other holds its own at the same time.
- Confirm it. At the close of the first candle that makes a higher low (bullish) or lower high (bearish) after the divergence, the SMT is drawn and alerted. Confirmed lines don't change afterwards.
02Reading the chart
The real indicator on real candles: Bitcoin on the chart, Ether in the pane below. Zoom and drag.
| SETTINGS ID 125Y-275 |
| Comparison symbol: ETHUSDT |
| Data source: BINANCE |
| SMT based on 4h orderflow |
| Session SMT based on 15m session high/low |
What each drawing means
| On the chart | What it means |
|---|---|
| A line under the candles on both markets | A bullish SMT: from the level to the low that formed the divergence. Bearish SMTs are drawn above the candles. |
| Label with a type: "internal", "external", "prev D", "Asia", "London" | Where the SMT was measured; with several higher timeframes on, also which one ("internal 1h"). An SMT two timeframes found at the same lines is drawn once and names both ("external D + W"). SMTs of different types at the same lines share one label that names them all ("internal + London"). |
| "(currently valid)" | The SMT still counts (see SMT for All-in-One). Once it stops counting, its lines and labels turn lighter. A shared label names the ones that still count when only some do ("(London currently valid)"). |
| Dashed lines | An SMT forming: the divergence is in place but not confirmed yet. |
| Candles in the indicator pane | The comparison symbol (green up, gray down). |
| Info text in the pane | The comparison symbol and its data source, the higher timeframes in use, and whether session SMT is active. |
| SETTINGS ID at the top right of the pane, above the info text | A short code of the settings that change the SMTs, your chart's timeframe and the comparison symbol (see The SETTINGS ID). |
| A message in the pane | No comparison symbol found, its data doesn't reach back far enough, or no higher timeframe is on. |
03The first settings
The defaults work for most markets. These are the settings worth knowing first:
Auto-assign Comparison Symbol
On by default: SMT picks the correlated market for your chart (ES for NQ, GBPUSD for EURUSD, Ether for Bitcoin …). Off: the symbol you type.
Open it in the settings window →2 timeframes higher
The timeframe two steps above your chart is on by default (4h on a 15-minute chart). Add one or three steps above for more SMTs.
Open it in the settings window →Show Internal SMT
Four kinds of levels, all on: higher-timeframe IRLs (internal), the leg's origin swing (external), the previous day, week or month, and the Asia and London session highs and lows.
Open it in the settings window →Show SMT while forming
Dashed lines while a divergence forms (on by default). Alerts come only for confirmed SMTs.
Open it in the settings window →Your first chart
- Add SMT to a chart of a supported market (futures such as NQ, ES, YM, RTY, GC, CL; major forex pairs; Bitcoin and Ether), on 1 to 15 minutes.
- Read the info text in the pane: is the comparison symbol the one you expect? Which higher timeframe is used?
- Scroll back and look at past SMTs: where was each measured, and what did price do afterwards?
- Create the alert (see Alerts).
04The settings window
SMT's settings window as TradingView shows it. Click a setting to read about it (on phones it opens from the bottom); change values and the SETTINGS ID follows, as SMT's pane would show it.
–What is this ID?
The SETTINGS ID at the top right of SMT's pane, above the info text: the settings that change the SMTs, your chart's timeframe and the comparison symbol (the one its info text names, here typed by you while auto-assign is on). Two charts with the same SETTINGS ID find the same SMTs on the same symbols. Colors, labels and alerts don't change it.
Click any setting in the window to see what it does, its options and their defaults, and when to change it.
- Use the filter above the window, for example timeframes or session.
- Change a value and watch the SETTINGS ID.
- Use Copy link to send someone straight to a setting.
05Concepts
The comparison symbol and the automatic pairs
With Auto-assign Comparison Symbol on (the default), SMT picks the correlated market for your chart:
- Nasdaq 100 and S&P 500, Dow and Russell 2000 (futures and CFDs); micro futures are compared with the other market's full-size future.
- Gold and silver, crude oil and gasoline futures, WTI and Brent CFDs.
- Currency futures: the euro with the pound (6E, 6B), the Australian with the New Zealand dollar (6A, 6N).
- Major forex pairs with each other (EURUSD with GBPUSD), USDCAD, USDCHF and USDJPY with the dollar index.
- Bitcoin with Ether (also the micro Bitcoin and Ether futures); other crypto with Bitcoin.
For CFDs and forex it uses the chart's broker where it can. For other symbols, switch auto-assign off and type the symbol you want.
One, two or three timeframes higher
SMT looks for divergences on up to three higher timeframes: one, two and three steps above your chart among 5m, 15m, 1h, 4h, D, W, M and 12M. Two steps above is on by default: the 4h on a 15-minute chart, the daily on a 1-hour chart. One step above is the 1h on a 15-minute chart, three steps above the daily. Each timeframe finds its own SMTs; the swing that confirms them always forms on your chart's timeframe. A timeframe that doesn't exist above your chart (three steps above a weekly chart) is left out.
On the chart's first candle, SMT also reads older candles of its higher timeframes (a warm-up; see Limitations), so the swings, gaps and levels that formed before your chart's history, and whether they were already taken, are known from the first candles on. Nothing is drawn or alerted for those older candles; an SMT among them that still counts is included in "SMT for All-in-One".
What counts as a divergence
An SMT forms when one market takes its level and the other holds its own level at the same time. The levels (bullish case; bearish is mirrored):
- External: the higher-timeframe swing low that started the current bullish leg (external range liquidity). One market takes it, the other stays above its own.
- Internal: both markets formed a bullish fair value gap on the higher timeframe (internal range liquidity). One trades into its gap, the other stays above its own.
- Previous D/W/M: one market takes the previous day's, week's, month's or year's low, the other doesn't. It uses the previous candle of each higher timeframe in use that is the daily or higher.
- Asia and London session: one market takes the Asia or London session low, the other doesn't. Charts below 1h only, and not on Saturdays for crypto.
Confirmation and forming SMTs
An SMT is confirmed at the close of the first candle that makes a higher low (bullish) or lower high (bearish) after the divergence. The line is drawn and the alert sent at that close, and confirmed lines don't change afterwards. Before that, with Show SMT while forming on, dashed lines show the divergence building; they update until it is confirmed or no longer valid, and send no alert.
SMT for All-in-One
SMT has one output, "SMT for All-in-One" (in the Data Window), for the All-in-One indicator on the same chart. An SMT counts ("currently valid") from the close of its confirming candle until one of the two markets reaches the highest high between the start and end of its line (bullish; the lowest low for bearish), or the market that held its level takes it after all.
- Add both indicators to the chart.
- In All-in-One, switch on SMT confluence and select SMT in the field beside it (listed as "SMT [Sir Pickle]").
- All-in-One's long setups then need a bullish SMT that counts, short setups a bearish one. SMT's own settings (comparison symbol, higher timeframes, types) decide which SMTs count.
The All-in-One guide explains its side.
The SETTINGS ID
At the top right of the pane, above the info text, a short code such as SETTINGS ID 125Y-275: the higher timeframes, SMT types and auto-assign, your chart's timeframe and the comparison symbol. Two charts with the same SETTINGS ID find the same SMTs on the same symbols; colors, labels and alert settings don't change it.
To use another chart's settings, paste its SETTINGS ID into Import settings from SETTINGS ID, in the last section of the settings, "Import settings via ID". SMT then uses the higher timeframes, SMT types and auto-assign it holds, and the SETTINGS ID at the top right ends with "(imported)". Your chart's timeframe and comparison symbol stay your own: if they differ from the pasted code's, the note says which, for example "(imported; differs: chart timeframe)". A code SMT can't read, as with most typos, is ignored ("(import ignored: check the ID)"). Show settings on chart lists the settings in use under the SETTINGS ID, and Show SETTINGS ID on chart (on) shows or hides the SETTINGS ID itself.
06Example charts
The indicator itself on real candles: Bitcoin (BTCUSDT) compared with Ether (ETHUSDT). Each chart says what was changed from the defaults. SMT works the same way on futures and forex pairs.
The defaults on a 15-minute chart
Three higher timeframes on a 1-hour chart
With all three timeframe switches on, the labels name each SMT's timeframe.
| SETTINGS ID 13FY-275 |
| Comparison symbol: ETHUSDT |
| Data source: BINANCE |
| SMT based on 4h, D, W orderflow |
07Recipes
A futures pair: NQ and ES
- Open NQ1! (or MNQ1!) on a 5- or 15-minute chart and add SMT. Auto-assign compares it with ES1!.
- Keep "2 timeframes higher"; add "1 timeframe higher" for more, earlier SMTs.
- Watch the higher-timeframe levels you trade from: an SMT there means ES didn't confirm NQ's move through the level.
A forex pair: EURUSD and GBPUSD
- Open EURUSD on 5 or 15 minutes. Auto-assign picks GBPUSD at your broker where it can (the info text shows the symbol and its source).
- Keep "Show Asia/London Session SMT" on: on forex, the session highs and lows are levels many traders watch.
- If the info text shows a message about the comparison symbol, switch auto-assign off and type your broker's GBPUSD symbol.
With All-in-One
- Add All-in-One and SMT to the same chart.
- In All-in-One, switch on SMT confluence and select SMT (listed as "SMT [Sir Pickle]").
- Optional: in All-in-One, set "Failed context or guard" to "warning only" to see the setups without an SMT as warnings instead of hiding them.
08Alerts
- An alert for every confirmed SMT, with the chart timeframe, both symbols and the SMT type (and its timeframe, with several on). An SMT two timeframes found sends one alert naming both. Forming SMTs send none.
- Create it from the indicator's menu: Add alert on SMT, condition Any alert() function call. Set up one alert per chart timeframe you want to hear about.
- Watchlist alerts work for symbols that auto-assign supports.
- Schedule DND (off) pauses alerts during a window in New York time (default 16:00 to 02:00), on intraday charts only.
After changing a setting, delete the alert and create it again: an alert keeps the settings it was created with. Removing the indicator from the chart doesn't stop its alerts.
09Questions and answers
The pane says no comparison symbol was found
Auto-assign doesn't know your symbol. Switch it off and type the correlated market's symbol in "Comparison Symbol".
Why does an SMT appear later than the low?
An SMT is confirmed when a swing confirms the move: at the close of the first candle that makes a higher low (bullish) or lower high (bearish). Until then it can only show as forming (dashed).
Why fewer SMTs in Bar Replay or far back?
TradingView loads less history for the comparison symbol than for your chart. Where its data is missing, no SMT is shown and the pane says so.
The candles of the two markets don't line up
If the two symbols trade at different hours (a CFD and a future, for example), their candles may not line up exactly.
Do I need All-in-One for SMT?
No. SMT works on its own; "SMT for All-in-One" is only there for All-in-One's SMT confluence.
10Limitations
- SMT needs a correlated comparison symbol; auto-assign covers the markets listed in the automatic pairs.
- Confirmed SMT lines don't change afterwards; forming lines update until the SMT is confirmed or no longer valid.
- TradingView loads less history for the comparison symbol, for example in Bar Replay; where its data is missing, there is no SMT.
- The older candles are read only for higher timeframes your chart covers with relatively few of its own candles (for example the weekly on a 1-hour chart); for the others, the first part of the chart can show fewer or different SMTs than later on.
- Symbols that trade at different hours can have candles that don't line up.
- Works up to the monthly chart. Session SMT runs on charts below 1h only.
- An SMT means that two markets diverged at a level. It is not a recommendation to trade.
11Glossary
ERL (external range liquidity)
A swing high or low: the liquidity a move heads for (or started from). An IRL's move is complete when price reaches its ERL.
Fair value gap (FVG)
Three candles where the first and the third don't overlap: the middle candle moved so fast that it left a gap.
Flip IRL
An IRL that a lower timeframe's opposite IRL broke through: it now counts in the other direction, until price reaches the move's opposite ERL.
Higher timeframe (HTF)
A timeframe above your chart's, for example the 4h on a 15-minute chart.
IRL (internal range liquidity)
An unfilled fair value gap (or a BAG) on a timeframe, drawn as a box. Price often comes back into it before the move goes on.
Orderflow leg
A move in one direction made of IRLs in the same direction. An IRL in the other direction starts a new leg.
SMT (divergence)
Two correlated markets disagree at a level: one takes its high or low, the other doesn't.
Swing high, swing low
A candle whose high (or low) is higher (or lower) than the candles beside it: a turning point.
The ID
A short code of the settings that change what the indicator finds, shown on the chart. Two charts with the same ID use the same settings.
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