Williams Alligator
Three smoothed moving averages of different lengths and offsets, nicknamed the jaw, teeth, and lips. Tangled together, the market is ranging; fanned apart, a trend is emerging.
What the numbers mean
Three smoothed averages of 13, 8 and 5 periods, each pushed forward by 8, 5 and 3 bars respectively. The offsets are the point: they stagger the lines so that a developing trend fans them apart in order, while the lookbacks set how much noise each line absorbs.
- 13 periods, offset 8 — the jaw, the slowest line
- 8 periods, offset 5 — the teeth, the middle line
- 5 periods, offset 3 — the lips, the fastest line
- The offsets push each line forward in time, which is what lets them fan out in order
How it is used
Read as a state machine: lines intertwined means the alligator is asleep and the market is ranging, lines fanning out in order means it is feeding and a trend is underway, lines converging again means the move is ending.
- Lines tangled and flat → the alligator is asleep; stand aside
- Lines fanning apart in order → the trend is feeding; stay with it
- Lines converging again → the move is running out; take profit
- Price crossing back through all three → the trend is finished
How it relates to everything else
The alligator is a three-line moving-average ribbon with the lines staggered forward, so it reports the same information as a 5/8/13 EMA stack but makes the ordering easier to see. Bill Williams designed it to be read alongside the Awesome Oscillator and Acceleration/Deceleration, which supply the momentum reading the alligator itself does not have.
- Same idea as a 5/8/13 moving-average ribbon, drawn with forward offsets
- Intended to be used with the Awesome Oscillator and AC from the same system
- Lines tangled ≈ ADX below 20; fanned ≈ ADX above 25
What to watch for
It is descriptive rather than predictive — the fan only opens once the trend is visible anyway. Offsetting lines forward also means the most recent bars have no line above them to compare against.