Debated1 min read
◆ The PatternThe stochastic seen from the top: how far the close sits below the recent high
Williams %R — Larry Williams' fast momentum oscillator.
%R = (Highest High − Close) / (Highest High − Lowest Low) × −100
Scale: 0 to −100. Default: 14 periods. Essentially an inverted fast stochastic (%K).
Zones:
• Above −20 → overbought
• Below −80 → oversold
Very responsive — useful for short-term timing but prone to false signals in trending markets.
• Above −20 → overbought
• Below −80 → oversold
Very responsive — useful for short-term timing but prone to false signals in trending markets.
Worked example
Day 15: highest high 105, lowest low 98, close 104, so %R = −100 × (105 − 104) / (105 − 98) = −14.3, inside the “overbought” zone above −20. It is the stochastic’s %K seen from the top: 85.7 − 100 = −14.3.
The example data: 15 days, used in every indicator here
| Day | High | Low | Close | Volume |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 101 | 99 | 100 | 50,000 |
| 2 | 103 | 100 | 102 | 62,000 |
| 3 | 103 | 100 | 101 | 48,000 |
| 4 | 105 | 101 | 104 | 70,000 |
| 5 | 108 | 104 | 107 | 85,000 |
| 6 | 108 | 105 | 106 | 60,000 |
| 7 | 110 | 106 | 109 | 90,000 |
| 8 | 110 | 107 | 108 | 72,000 |
| 9 | 108 | 104 | 105 | 80,000 |
| 10 | 105 | 102 | 103 | 66,000 |
| 11 | 105 | 102 | 104 | 55,000 |
| 12 | 104 | 101 | 102 | 75,000 |
| 13 | 102 | 98 | 99 | 95,000 |
| 14 | 102 | 99 | 101 | 64,000 |
| 15 | 105 | 101 | 104 | 71,000 |
Where it misleads
- It shares the stochastic’s weakness: it stays at an extreme for as long as a trend lasts.
- Unsmoothed, it is the noisiest of the range oscillators — one wide bar can move it across the scale.
- The negative scale carries no information beyond %K; it mostly causes confusion.
In code
hh = df['high'].rolling(5).max() ll = df['low'].rolling(5).min() df['wr5'] = -100 * (hh - df['close']) / (hh - ll)
Assumes import numpy as np, import pandas as pd, and a DataFrame df with columns high, low, close and volume — the 15 days above.
Sources
- L. Williams, How I Made One Million Dollars Last Year Trading Commodities, Windsor Books, 1973
- Technical Analysis of the Financial Markets, J. J. Murphy, New York Institute of Finance, 1999
Last reviewed October 2026 · How this site checks its content · Report a mistake
Pattern bridge: Williams %R is the stochastic oscillator inverted — same math, different perspective. Like percentiles read from top instead of bottom.
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