What is Median Price?
Median Price draws one line through the chart at the midpoint of each bar's high and low. It ignores where the bar opened and closed entirely, so it describes the centre of the range that traded rather than the price the bar settled on.
Median Price is a per-bar reference value. It does not smooth across bars, it is not the statistical median of a set of closes, and it does not signal trend direction or strength on its own.
How to use Median Price
- The centre of the range. Each point sits exactly halfway between the bar's high and low, so it shows where the range was centred.
- Against the close. A close above Median Price means the bar finished in the upper half of its range, below it in the lower half. That is a quick read of who held the bar at the end.
- As an input elsewhere. Indicators set to the hl2 source read this value, and several range-based indicators start from it. Plotting it shows their raw input.
It is a reference line, not an entry or exit signal.
Settings
Median Price has no inputs. The two prices it uses are fixed, so there is nothing to tune.
Calculation
Each bar is calculated on its own, with no look-back:
Median Price = (high + low) / 2No earlier bars are involved, so there is no warm-up and the line starts on the first bar. With only two prices in the average, the middle of a bar's range is always the middle of the bar, however it opened or closed. Average Price and Typical Price add the open and close back in.
Limitations
- It ignores the close. Two bars with the same high and low give the same Median Price whether they closed at the top or the bottom, so it says nothing about who won the bar.
- Wicks move it fully. A single spike stretches the range, and the midpoint moves half the distance of that spike even if price spent almost no time there.
- It is not a moving average. Every value comes from one bar, so it is about as noisy as the candles. Smooth it if you want a trend line.
- The live candle moves. The current bar's value changes whenever a new high or low prints, until the bar closes.
Frequently asked questions
Median Price plots the midpoint of each bar's high and low as a line over the candles. It is often written as HL2. Despite the name, it is a midpoint of two numbers, not the median of a group of closes.
Median Price uses only the high and low. Typical Price adds the close, and Average Price adds both the open and the close. Median Price is the only one of the three that the close has no effect on.
No. The indicator declares no inputs. The calculation is fixed as the midpoint of high and low. Typical Price and Average Price cover the other common blends.
No. Values on closed bars are never revised, and since each value uses only its own bar, loading older history does not change anything. The current candle's value moves while its high or low is still changing and settles when it closes.
Use the Add to chart button at the top of this page. It opens BTC/USDT on Binance in the Altrady Charts terminal with the built-in Median Price already applied. On any other market, open the indicator picker on the chart and choose Median Price from the Trend group.