Inside “Bollinger on Bollinger Bands”: How to Read Momentum, Volatility, and Market Emotion

 When you read a trading-book and say “oh, I recognise that candle pattern / that breakout / that double top or double bottom”, you may feel you’ve understood the move. But often — even with the correct pattern observed — you still don’t catch the true momentum, the volatility context, or whether the move is real or merely a fade.

That’s what this book addresses: it doesn’t just show you patterns, it helps you ask the right questions of those patterns:

• Is the breakout strong or weak?

• Is the price move backed by volatility or is it a trap?

• When a chart says “double top” or “double bottom”, does it mean the move has exhausted or just paused?

Below are core concepts I pulled out (and simplified) so that you can use them right away in your trading or chart-analysis mindset.

1. Relative definitions of “high” and “low”

One of the foundation ideas: the bands don’t give you absolute high/low — they give you contextual high/low.

What does that mean in practice?

• A “double top” pattern might look the same visually, but if the bands are very wide (volatility high) vs very narrow (volatility low) the implications differ drastically.

• Instead of thinking “price hit a historic high, time to reverse”, you ask: “Relative to recent volatility, is it in the extreme band or still within normal bounds?”
  This shifts you from pattern-spotting to understanding momentum vs context.
  
  

  
  
  

2. Volatility as motion and momentum

The book emphasises that volatility (the width of the bands) isn’t just “something annoying” — it’s information. When bands expand, it tells you something different than when they contract.

• Narrow bands → low volatility → markets are quiet → often a precursor to big moves. 

• Wide bands → high volatility → price may be trending or exhausting a move.

This means when you see a “double bottom”, you also need to check: are the bands expanding (move has power) or contracting (perhaps the move is stalling)? People who only looked at the chart but ignored volatility often miss the real push or the fade.

3. Patterns confirmed vs patterns assumed

You mentioned in your first post: many think “I see a double top, that’s the reversal”. But what if the market keeps trending anyway? The book helps you see that:

“Tags of the bands are just that, tags not signals. A tag of the upper band is not by itself a sell signal.”

So, when price touches or crosses a band, it doesn’t automatically mean “sell” or “buy”. The psychology you need:

• Recognise that the band touch could mean momentum is strong (price walking the band).

• Or, it could be exhaustion (price hitting the band but not breaking through).

• The difference hinges on confirmation, context, volume, sentiment.

4. The “Squeeze”, “Expansion”, “Band-Walk” & how movement evolves

The book, and related guidance, outline stages of market behavior using the bands:

• Squeeze: bands contract → volatility low → potential for big move.

• Expansion: bands widen → volatility high → trend may be underway.

• Band-walk: price walks the upper (or lower) band in a trending move.

Psychologically, this gives you a framework: when you see a pattern, ask “where are we in the volatility cycle?” rather than “what pattern is that?”. That insight helps you avoid trades where a pattern looks good but the market context (momentum, volatility) is weak.

5. Combining with other indicators & non-correlated checks

Another big takeaway: the book emphasises not relying on the bands alone. You still must check momentum, volume, market behaviour.

So when you say “I saw the double bottom, bands were wide so I thought bottom was in” — this idea pushes you to also ask:

• Was volume increasing?

• Was sentiment shifting?

• Was the band on the verge of contracting (i.e., structural change)?

This leads you away from “chart pattern recognition” to “market behaviour reading”.

6. Practical mindset shift: From “chart pattern” to “market rhythm”

Ultimately, what clicked for me (and what your readers will benefit from) is:

Instead of: “Double top = reversal”, you think: “Price created a top-shaped pattern, but did it resolve? Did momentum fade? Did the bands contract or expand? Is the move backed by volatility or fading?”

This psychological shift is powerful because it separates traders who see patterns from traders who understand moves. The latter are more likely to pick true bottoms and tops (or at least avoid the obvious traps) because they recognise when a move lacks conviction.

• 🔗 Free Book Link