Gator Oscillator¶
Indicators · Momentum
Bill Williams Gator Oscillator — Alligator jaw/teeth/lips convergence as twin histograms.
The Gator Oscillator is a companion to the Williams Alligator that visualises one thing: how converged or diverged the Alligator's three lines are. The Alligator metaphor is that the market "sleeps" (lines tangled) and "feeds" (lines fanned apart); the Gator turns that into two histograms so you can see, at a glance, whether the alligator is waking up, eating, or getting sated — i.e. whether a trend is starting, running, or ending.
How it works¶
The block measures the gaps between the Alligator's smoothed averages — Jaw (period 13, shift 8), Teeth (8, shift 5), and Lips (5, shift 3). The Upper histogram is the absolute distance between Jaw and Teeth (plotted above zero); the Lower histogram is the negative absolute distance between Teeth and Lips (plotted below zero). Each bar is also coloured by whether it grew or shrank versus the prior bar. When both histograms expand, the lines are diverging (a trend feeding); when they contract toward zero, the lines are converging (the alligator sleeping).
When to use it¶
Use the Gator Oscillator alongside the Williams Alligator to gauge trend phase. Bill Williams described a cycle: the Gator "awakens" (bars start expanding from near zero) at a trend's birth, "eats" (both histograms green/expanding) during the trend, and "sated" (bars shrinking) as it ends — the cue to tighten or exit. It's a phase/strength gauge rather than a directional signal (it never says up or down), so it's best read together with the Alligator's line order for direction. Expanding bars = stay; contracting bars = the trend is tiring.
Example¶
Confirm a feeding trend: use the Williams Alligator stack for direction (bullish order) and require the Gator Oscillator's histograms expanding (trend feeding) as a strength confirmation through an And gate into a Buy Signal. Exit or tighten when the Gator bars start contracting. Backtest in the Tester.
Tips & gotchas¶
- Convergence/divergence of the Alligator — it visualises trend phase, not direction.
- Expanding bars = trend feeding (stay); contracting = sated (tighten/exit).
- Read with the Alligator's line order for direction — Gator alone is directionless.
- Near-zero, flat bars = sleeping — no trade.
Related blocks¶
Inputs¶
| Socket | Type | What to wire in |
|---|---|---|
| Bars | bars |
Price bars |
Outputs¶
| Output | Type | Plots as | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Upper | series |
Histogram · sub-pane | |jaw − teeth| (above zero) |
| Lower | series |
Histogram · sub-pane | −|teeth − lips| (below zero) |
Parameters¶
| Parameter | Type | Default | What it does |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jaw period | number · 2–200 | 13 |
|
| Jaw shift | number · 0–100 | 8 |
|
| Teeth period | number · 2–200 | 8 |
|
| Teeth shift | number · 0–100 | 5 |
|
| Lips period | number · 2–200 | 5 |
|
| Lips shift | number · 0–100 | 3 |
|
| Upper color | colour | #26a69a |
|
| Lower color | colour | #ef5350 |
Reference auto-generated from the block catalog · category Indicators.