Squeeze Momentum Indicator (SMI)

The Squeeze Momentum Indicator (SMI) helps traders identify periods of low volatility that are likely to be followed by high volatility and potential breakouts. It combines aspects of Bollinger Bands and Keltner Channels to detect “squeeze” conditions, and adds a momentum histogram to gauge directional bias.

When Bollinger Bands are within the Keltner Channels, the market is in a “squeeze”, indicating consolidation and low volatility — often a precursor to large price moves. Once the squeeze is released (i.e., Bollinger Bands move outside the Keltner Channels), momentum is used to determine the likely direction of the breakout.

Get SMI values via API

We provide API access to the Squeeze Momentum Values values for all of the most popular assets like stocks, crypto (try one of the popular exchanges like Binance) and forex, on all commonly used timeframes – from the weekly and daily all the way down to one minute intervals. You can also calculate the values on your own data using our manual method.

Customize the Squeeze Momentum Indicator

You can fine-tune the Squeeze Momentum Indicator (SMI) using several optional parameters to better suit your trading style and market conditions. The lengthBB and lengthKC parameters control the lookback periods for the Bollinger Bands and Keltner Channels, respectively — both default to 20 but can be adjusted for shorter or longer-term analysis. The multBB defines how many standard deviations are used to plot the Bollinger Bands (default: 2.0), affecting their width and sensitivity to price movements. Similarly, multKC sets the ATR multiplier for the Keltner Channels (default: 1.5), which influences when a squeeze is detected. By customizing these inputs, you can make the indicator more reactive for short-term strategies or smoother for longer-term setups.

Get started with the squeeze

Simply make an HTTPS [GET] request or call in your browser:

			[GET] https://api.taapi.io/squeeze?secret=MY_SECRET&exchange=binance&symbol=BTC/USDT&interval=1h

API response

The squeeze endpoint returns a JSON response like this:

			{
	"value": -626.0485785714322,
	"squeeze": true
}
Example response from TAAPI.IO when querying squeeze endpoint.

API parameters

secret
Required String
The secret which is emailed to you when you request an API key.
exchange
Required String
The exchange you want to calculate the indicator from: binance, binancefutures or one of our supported exchanges. For other crypto / stock exchanges, please refer to our Client or Manual integration methods.
symbol
Required String
Symbol names are always uppercase, with the coin separated by a forward slash and the market: COIN/MARKET. For example: BTC/USDT Bitcoin to Tether, or LTC/BTC Litecoin to Bitcoin...
interval
Required String
Interval or time frame: We support the following time frames: 1m, 5m, 15m, 30m, 1h, 2h, 4h, 12h, 1d, 1w. So if you're interested in values on hourly candles, use interval=1h, for daily values use interval=1d, etc.
backtrack
Optional Integer
The backtrack parameter removes candles from the data set and calculates the squeeze value X amount of candles back. So, if you are fetching the squeeze on the hourly and you want to know what the squeeze was 5 hours ago, set backtrack=5. The default is 0.
chart
Optional String
The chart parameter accepts one of two values: candles or heikinashi. candles is the default, but if you set this to heikinashi, the indicator values will be calculated using Heikin Ashi candles. Note: Pro & Expert Plans only.
addResultTimestamp
Optional Boolean
true or false. Defaults to false. By setting to true the API will return a timestamp with every result (real-time and backtracked) to which candle the value corresponds. This is especially helpful when requesting a series of historical values using the results parameter.
fromTimestamp
New Optional String
The start of the time range in Unix epoch time. For example: 1685577600
toTimestamp
New Optional String
The end of the time range in Unix epoch time. For example: 1731456000 If you only use fromTimestamp, the API will return all results from that time until present.
gaps
Optional Boolean
true or false. Defaults to true. By setting to false, the API will ensure that there are no candles missing. This often happens on lower timeframes in thin markets. Gaps will be filled by a new candle with 0 volume, and OHLC set the the close price of the latest candle with volume.
results
New Optional String
number or max. Use this parameter to access historical values on the past X candles until the most recent candle. Use max to return all available historical values. Returns an array with the oldest value on top and most recent value returned the last.
lengthBB
Optional Integer

Period for Bollinger Bands

Default: 20

lengthKC
Optional Integer

Period for Keltner Channels

Default: 20

multBB
Optional Float

Standard deviation multiplier for Bollinger Bands

Default: 2.0

multKC
Optional Float

ATR multiplier for Keltner Channels

Default: 1.5

More examples

Let's say you want to know the squeeze value on the last closed candle on the 30m timeframe. You are not interest in the real-time value, so you use the backtrack=1 optional parameter to go back 1 candle in history to the last closed candle.

				[GET] https://api.taapi.io/squeeze?secret=MY_SECRET&exchange=binance&symbol=BTC/USDT&interval=30m&backtrack=1
Get squeeze values on each of the past X candles in one call

Let's say you want to know what the squeeze daily value was each day for the previous 10 days. You can get this returned by our API easily and efficiently in one call using the results=10 parameter:

				[GET] https://api.taapi.io/squeeze?secret=MY_SECRET&exchange=binance&symbol=BTC/USDT&interval=1d&results=10

Looking for even more integration examples in different languages like NodeJS, PHP, Python, Curl or Ruby? Continue to [GET] REST - Direct documentation.