Awesome Oscillator on TradingView — Pine Script v5 Source

The Awesome Oscillator is a few lines in Pine — median price, two SMAs, a difference, and the signature colour-by-momentum bars. See the explainer for the concept.

What you’ll need

• A TradingView account (free tier is fine)
• The Pine Editor

The source

//@version=5
indicator("AlgoGen Awesome Oscillator", shorttitle="AG AO", overlay=false)

fast = input.int(5,  "Fast")
slow = input.int(34, "Slow")

ao = ta.sma(hl2, fast) - ta.sma(hl2, slow)   // hl2 = (high + low) / 2

aoColor = ao >= ao[1] ? #0ca30c : #d03b3b    // green if rising, red if falling
plot(ao, "AO", style=plot.style_columns, color=aoColor)
hline(0, "Zero", color=color.gray)

hl2 is TradingView’s built-in median price (high+low)/2, so the AO is just ta.sma(hl2, 5) - ta.sma(hl2, 34). The aoColor line applies Bill Williams’ momentum colouring — green when the bar is higher than the last, red when lower — matching the output chart.

Saucer and zero-cross signals

zeroBull = ta.crossover(ao, 0)
// Bull saucer: AO above zero, two down bars, then an up bar.
saucer = ao > 0 and ao[2] > ao[3] ? false : (ao > 0 and ao[1] < ao[2] and ao[2] < ao[3] and ao > ao[1])
plotshape(zeroBull, "Zero cross up", shape.triangleup, location.bottom, color=#0ca30c, size=size.tiny)
alertcondition(zeroBull, "AO zero cross up", "AO crossed above zero")

Bonus: the Accelerator Oscillator

Williams’ companion, the AC, is the AO minus a 5-SMA of itself — two more lines:

ac = ao - ta.sma(ao, 5)
acColor = ac >= ac[1] ? #0ca30c : #d03b3b
plot(ac, "AC", style=plot.style_columns, color=acColor)

Put it in a second pane or overlay it; rising AC bars flag momentum that is accelerating, which Williams treated as the earliest of his “go” signals.

Gotchas

• hl2, not close. The AO uses the median price; close would give a different oscillator.
• ta.sma, not ta.ema. Simple moving averages define the AO; EMAs make it a MACD-like variant.
• Colour by momentum. Compare ao to ao[1] for the bar colour — not to zero. A green bar can be below zero (momentum improving within a downtrend).

Same indicator elsewhere: Python, MQL5, EasyLanguage, NinjaScript. Then test an AO rule in AlgoGen.

---

This post is educational, not financial advice. Indicators describe the past; they don’t predict the future. Backtest anything before you risk real money on it.